Halves
by SilvorMoon
Summary: Yugi appeared to be just like any of the other boys in his village, but he's actually one of the mysterious beings called Halves. When he meets the ghost of another Half, Yami, he begins to learn just how dangerous that is.
1. First Half

**First Half**

**By: SilvorMoon**

The woman lay exhausted on the pallet that had been laid on the floor for her - which was just now stained with blood and other bodily fluids. She had been in labor since sometime in the early afternoon, and now it was dark enough that the inside of her cabin had to be lit by candles. It was by their flickering light that her first child, a son, came into the world. Her husband watched anxiously as his wife lifted up the child and began inspecting him. The baby did not cry as he was lifted up, but only fidgeted a bit and whimpered slightly. 

"Is he all right?" the father asked. He had been praying for a boy, a healthy one to help him tend his animals and assist in his work, but there was something about this child that struck him as odd. 

"He seems healthy enough," the mother replied. "Yet I sense something wrong..." 

She laid his hand on his chest, feeling his breathing. Her expression clouded. 

"He has no heartbeat," she said. "He lives, yet he has no heartbeat." 

There was a weighty pause as they digested that information. Both of them had heard the stories - everyone had - of the children born with no pulse or blood. They were called Halves, after the old folk stories that said that such children possessed only half a soul, and lived by magic alone. No one knew if this was true or not, but the fact was that Half children always turned out strange, sometimes dangerous. Many considered them to be more monster than human. 

"We should kill it now," said the father. 

"No!" the woman gasped. "You can't! He's our son!" 

"He's not a real child. We ought to get rid of him before he causes any damage. If we let him grow up, he'll be a danger to everyone around us." 

"He hasn't done anything yet. He's just an innocent baby. You can't be sure he'll grow up to be a monster." 

"I can be sure of what the other people will do when they find out about him. It's dangerous for _us_ to keep him. It will be better for everyone if we just put him down quietly." 

"I won't let you!" She tried to get up, but she was still too sore and weak to stand, and she fell with a gasp. The baby began to cry, a piercing high-pitched wail that seemed to resonate off every glass and metal object in the room. It was an eerie sound, and she cringed in spite of her determination. 

"You hear that?" her husband replied. "That's not a sound a normal child makes. Let's just kill it and be done with it!" 

He snatched the baby out of his wife's hands and began carrying it out the back door. Upon arriving at his destination, however, he found he could go no further, because there was an elderly man standing on his doorstep. 

"I think," said the man, "that before any killing is done, I might like to take a look at the matter myself." 

"Sugoroku!" the man exclaimed. Sugoroku was the local wizard who lived in the next village. He very seldom appeared in their town at all, and when he did, it was usually to the accompaniment of many strange goings-on. "What are you doing here?" 

"I read in the cards that a magical child would be born here tonight," he replied. "I wanted to have a look at it for myself. It looks like I got here just in time, too. Let me have a look at the baby. Is it a boy or a girl?" 

"It's a Half," said the father brusquely. 

"Yes, but Half of what? Let me see." 

He caught the man's arm and pulled the baby into view, studied it intently a moment, and then picked it up and looked at it some more. The crying baby quieted at his touch. 

"Yes, I see," said Sugoroku. "A Half, just as you say. A child with magic in his veins instead of blood. You were planning on killing him, weren't you?" 

The father nodded. 

"That would be a terrible waste, I think. If you don't want him, let _me_ have him. I'll look after him for you - raise him as my own grandson. You'll never have to see or hear from him again. You can tell everyone else that your son was dead at birth, and no one will be the wiser." 

"What do you think?" asked the husband, looking back at his wife. "Will this make you happy?" 

She nodded silently. The wizard Sugoroku had a reputation as a kindly man, wise in the white arts of healing and divination. She felt sure he would keep his word when he said that he would care for her child as if he were the old man's own grandson. If it would protect her son, she was willing to pass the boy along to someone better able to raise him than she. 

"Well, I guess a wizard would know how to raise a Half boy, if anyone can," the husband said. He looked down at the child in his arms for a moment, then sighed. "All right. Take him. He's yours." 

"I knew you'd see reason," said Sugoroku. "Thank you for the gift. Good luck to you both." 

Then he turned and walked away, taking the baby with him into the shadows. 

Though the journey from the small mountain village where the child had been born to the larger town where the wizard lived would have normally taken several hours, Sugoroku arrived home with his burden in a matter of minutes. He let himself into his house - a tottery stone building that had once been a windmill before it had broken down beyond repair. Now the building was full of assorted wizardly paraphernalia. Dried bunches of herbs and pots filled with live plants hung from the ceiling, while every table and shelf was cluttered with arcane odds and ends. Cards, dice, and boards with assorted strange symbols figured largely into his collection of belongings. He moved a few of these out of the way and set the baby down on a cushion that had once held his crystal ball before he'd gotten rid of it. The baby was whimpering fitfully again. 

"It's been a long time," Sugoroku muttered, "but I think I still remember how to deal with a baby. I imagine the first thing to do is feed you. Wait a moment." 

He left the room for a moment, in search of milk and something to put it in that a baby was capable of drinking from. When he returned, he found that the child had worked one eye open, and was having a look around at his first glimpse of the world. Tentatively, the boy put out a hand and began batting at a stack of cards that rested nearby. Finding he couldn't reach them, he turned his attention to a pair of dice and managed to push them off the table. Sugoroku chuckled. 

"Getting into things already, hmm?" he said. "I'm going to have to do some cleaning if I'm going to have a child in the house again. You're a little too young to play those kinds of games, little fellow. Hmm..." 

He bent to pick up the dice. These were no ordinary dice; instead of pips, they had an assortment of mystic symbols engraved on them. They were meant to be used in determining the true nature of things, and now he looked at the way they had fallen with the same care he gave all his magical devices. 

"Perhaps this is a portent," he said. "Very well. I'll give you a name, little playful one - the ancient word for game: Yugi."

* * *

"Grandpa! I'm going out for a walk!" 

"All right, Yugi! Just stay out of trouble, and try not to get hurt!" 

"I won't! Bye, Grandpa!" 

Yugi ran out the door of the old windmill and into the afternoon sunshine. He had been spending most of the day helping his grandfather with his experiments, which was always interesting, at least to Yugi. He had never quite gotten the knack of seeing the future the way his grandfather could, or any of the other small magics that the old man could perform, but he loved to watch anyway. However, there was only so much of that kind of thing a young man could take before he grew restless. Now he was happy to be outside in the warmth of a late summer day, feeling the wind in his unruly hair. 

Yugi had grown up to be, in most respects, a fairly ordinary sixteen year old boy. He was small for his age, with round, innocent eyes - hardly the monster his father had been expecting when he'd been born. The only obviously odd thing about him was his hair, which had a dismaying tendency to stick up in all directions no matter how much he brushed it down. It also couldn't seem to make up its mind what color it wanted to be: it started out black at the roots, and shaded to red at the tips, except in the front where it was blonde and wavy, as if he had been missing some hair there and replaced it with someone else's. Otherwise, the only strange thing about him physically was that he, like every other Half, had no blood or heartbeat. If he was cut, he bled some peculiar shimmery-pink liquid, something that beaded and ran like mercury. He had lived his whole life being exhorted not to hurt himself, lest anyone see that strange ichor and realize what he really was. 

Still, that left him plenty to do, as long as he was careful. He ambled up the road that led to town, whistling to himself. As he neared the village, he found a few of the other boys sitting on a large smooth rock, playing a card game. Yugi trotted over to join them. 

"Hi!" he said. "What are you playing? Can I join in?" 

"Go away," said one of the boys. 

"Yeah, leave us alone," another said. "You can't play. You cheat!" 

Yugi cringed. "I do not!" 

"Of course you do. Don't be stupid," said the oldest of the boys, with authority. His name was Ushio, and all the other boys answered to him. "Did you think we wouldn't figure it out sooner or later? When a guy wins every game he plays, no matter what, he must be cheating. You probably learned it from that creepy grandfather of yours." 

"My grandfather is not creepy," said Yugi, "and he doesn't know anything about cheating at cards. He only uses them for fortune telling and things, not playing card games." 

"Sure he does," said the first boy sarcastically. "Nobody wins all the time. Heck, last time we played, I had cards hidden up my sleeve, and you still beat me!" 

Ushio cuffed him. "You weren't supposed to tell him that!" 

Yugi just scuffed his feet in the dust and said nothing. He couldn't really argue with the boys - after all, they were telling the truth. Perhaps because he had been barred from the rough sports that the other boys played, Yugi had excelled at table games from an early age. If it had to do with cards or dice or any kind of board game, Yugi never lost. He didn't know how he did it, but he knew he wasn't cheating. 

"If you were a real man," said Ushio, "you wouldn't waste your time playing games, anyway. Why don't you come hunting with us later today? Prove you're good enough to run with the rest of us." 

"I can't," said Yugi, backing away. "Grandpa doesn't allow me to hunt. You know that." 

"Coward," Ushio spat. "You're just too weak to do anything!" 

"Yeah, you can't go hunting 'cause you're still just a little baby!" another boy taunted. "Wahh, my grandpa won't let me go out in the dark! Wahh!" 

Yugi fled, hearing the other boys' jeers ringing after him. He rushed right out of town as fast as he trusted himself to run without tripping. It was always the same, lately. Once, the boys had been his friends, back when they were children and could play harmless games together. Now they taunted him because he couldn't hunt and fish and play the rougher games that they enjoyed. Even if his grandfather allowed it, Yugi knew he wasn't strong or fast and wouldn't have been able to make a good showing, and they would still have laughed at him. There was just no choice but to leave them alone and be by himself. 

_It's not fair,_ he thought miserably. _It's all because I was born a Half. If I was just a normal boy like them, I wouldn't have to worry..._

He shook his head. He had voiced that complaint to his grandfather before, and gotten a stern talking to. _"Why do you want to be just like those arrogant musclebound clods? No, you were born special, Yugi. That means you have special pains, but you have special talents, too. You were born the way you were for a reason, and someday you will learn it."_ Yugi supposed he was right, but still, it was hard to feel special when nobody in the village would give him the time of day. 

_I don't want much,_ he told himself. _I just don't want to be so alone. Please, all I want is a friend, just one friend..._

One thing was for certain: there were no potential friends out here. He had left the village behind him, and with it, some of his bad feelings. It was hard to feel down when he was out among the trees, or standing in a meadow looking up at the clear blue sky and the soaring mountain peaks. He may not have had it in him to be a hunter, but he _did_ like to walk, and spent most of his free time roaming around the countryside, just daydreaming. He dreamed and dreamed of meeting someone out here, someone like himself who needed a companion. Sometimes he dreamed of rescuing a damsel in distress and falling in love - he was, after all, a teenaged boy, with the same feelings as any other teenaged boy, even if he was a Half. He imagined beating a villain by a trial of wits and being hailed as a hero. He imagined running away to the city and embracing a great destiny, the likes of which he couldn't begin to comprehend. He dreamed of meeting an aged hermit who would teach him to become a great wizard or warrior. He dreamed of finding a mythical sword and becoming a mighty monster hunter. He dreamed and dreamed until the sun set and the stars appeared in the sky. 

Yugi stopped walking. He had meant to be closer to the village by now, but night came quickly in the mountains, and he had been deeply lost in thought. Now he was realizing that he didn't know exactly where he was. Somewhere nearby, there was supposed to be a path - hardly more than a deer trail, but frequented by hunters and easy enough to find in broad daylight. He must have missed it in the deepening shadows. 

_I need to get out where there's some light,_ he decided. 

Right now, all he could see above him were tree branches and specks of sky, hardly enough to do him any good. If he got to where he could see the sky clearly, it would be a different story. His grandfather, like any good wizard, knew the heavens as well as he knew the streets through the town, and had taught Yugi all the positions of the stars and the movements of the constellations. If he could just come to a place where he could see the sky, he would be able to get a rough idea which way the village was and find his way back. With that thought in mind, he picked the direction that felt best to him and set off. 

He decided almost immediately that he had picked the wrong direction. He recognized nothing around him, and the ground showed no signs of being traversed by anything, human or animal. Perhaps there was something dangerous about this area? Yugi had never heard of such a thing anywhere near his village, but then, it looked like nobody ever came this way. If it was dangerous enough that even the animals kept well away from it, what could a boy who didn't even have a pocketknife to protect himself do if he got into trouble? He began to feel nervous. 

Just before he could completely lose his nerve, he sighted a clearing up ahead and ran towards it. Then he stopped, because he knew for a fact that he had never seen this place before. The earth was covered with spongy, pale green deer-moss, looking almost white in the moonlight, and in the exact center of the clearing stood a broken tree. It was too tall to be called a stump, having been snapped off at about four feet above its base, leaving jagged shards of wood thrusting up at the sky. Its bark had long since worn away, leaving it bare and gleaming. It looked like a tombstone, or a broken bone thrust into the earth. There appeared to be something hanging from a knot on the side of the tree. 

"What in the world?" he said aloud. His voice sounded strangely hushed. 

Wondering if he could still be imagining things, he tiptoed into the clearing, inching towards the strange tree. Up close, he could see that the object he'd glimpsed was a piece of jewelry hanging from a chain. The chain was rusted, but the pendant seemed to be in good condition, though he could not make out its exact nature under years of grime. Maybe his grandfather could identify it, once it had been cleaned up a bit. He reached for the chain and lifted it down from where it hung. 

Darkness swallowed him. 

Yugi screamed as the shadows surrounded him, engulfing him like a fog or a hot smoke. He tried to fight it off, but nothing he could do would make it go away; it was like trying to push away the air around him. 

**Don't be afraid,** said the fog. **I'm not going to hurt you. I can't hurt you.**

"What are you?" Yugi asked. 

I am a Wraith. I am the spirit of a monster hunter who died in this place many years ago, while I was hunting in these mountains. With my body destroyed, my soul is doomed to haunt this place for all time. There was a whispery sigh, like the wind blowing through faraway trees. **You are the first human to have visited this place in many, many years, more than I have been able to count.**

"That's so sad," said Yugi. "Aren't you lonely?" 

There was a long pause. 

**Yes,** said the voice wistfully. **Even the animals fear my presence, and no hunters will come where there is no game. You are the first person I have spoken to since my death.**

"I'm lonely, too," Yugi admitted. "I don't have any friends. Everyone back in the village picks on me because I never play with them anymore." 

**Why don't you?**

"Because... if I do, I might get hurt, and everyone will find out I'm a Half." 

**Are you?** the voice asked. **That is interesting, because I, too, was a Half while I lived. What is your name?**

"Yugi." 

**Yugi. My true name, I gave up many years ago, but my comrades observed how I moved in the darkness and hunted in the night, and named me as such. I am called Yami.**

"Yami. Our names are almost the same," said Yugi thoughtfully. 

**Yes. They begin and end the same way - alike on the outside, but different on the inside. I find this interesting. You see, you look very much like I did in my youth. Almost exactly.**

"Maybe you're my other half?" said Yugi, only partly joking. 

**Perhaps. How did you find me here, Yugi? I had thought this place was abandoned long ago.**

"I got lost," Yugi admitted. "I was out walking and lost track of where I was. I have to find my way back soon, though. My grandfather will be worried sick about me... but I think I can remember how to get back here again. Maybe I can come back and visit you sometime?" 

**If that is what you would like, I would be more than happy to have someone to talk to again,** said Yami graciously, **but it may be that you can do more for me than that. They say that Halves have only half a soul in their bodies. Perhaps you have room to house my soul as well. Yugi, listen. I know a little bit about magic. If you permit it, I can transfer my soul into your body, so that my mind will live alongside your own. I once knew every tree and rock on these mountains; I can guide you safely home. I can protect you from the boys who torment you. If you choose to do this, however, the two of us will be inseparable from that point on - two minds as one.**

"You mean you'll never leave me? No matter what?" asked Yugi. "Yes! That would make me so happy, to have a real friend..." 

Yami chuckled. **I think we will get along with each other. I am sure we will become great friends. So, will you agree to this?**

"Absolutely!" 

**Then put on my necklace.**

Yugi did as he was told, lifting up the heavy pendant and lowering the chain around his neck. For a moment, the fog became darker and hotter than ever, making him feel as if he were burning up inside. Then everything cleared, and he found himself looking at a clear sky and a moonlight glade. 

"Yami?" he called. "Are you there?" 

A voice in his mind replied, _I am here. With you. Always._

Yugi felt himself smiling. "I'm glad you're here, Yami." 

_I am thankful I met you as well. Now, tell me where you live, and I will guide you home._

"In the old windmill at the edge of town." 

_I remember that windmill. It was still a windmill, when I was alive. No matter; I know how to get there from here. Let's run!_

Yugi felt something shift, and suddenly his body was moving without him telling it to, and he knew that Yami had taken over control, and he had nothing to do but ride along. He felt his legs pumping, his feet pounding against the soft forest floor, and felt his lungs drawing in great gulps of balmy summer air, and he realized he was _running_. He had never allowed himself to run at full speed like this, always fearing that he would fall and hurt himself, but Yami knew exactly what he was doing, and every footfall was perfectly placed. He would not fall, and he didn't fear hurting himself. With the hunter's mind next to his, Yugi could sense that Yami had never been afraid of pain or injury, or anything else. He had lived a life without fear, and now his life was Yugi's life. For the first time since his birth, Yugi felt completely free. Yami threw back his head and laughed with the joy of being able to run again, and Yugi echoed his laughter. 

They arrived at the windmill flushed and sweaty and out of breath, because Yugi's body wasn't accustomed to such strenuous activity. His grandfather was waiting for him at the door as he arrived, his expression saying clearly that he was just waiting to see whether he was going to have to give a scolding or provide comfort from some traumatic experience. 

"Grandpa, you're never going to believe what happened to me!" Yugi exclaimed. 

"I should hope I would believe it," Sugoroku replied. "After all my years of being a wizard, I think I'd believe almost anything." 

"This, I believe, is going to be somewhat outside your realms of experience." 

Sugoroku blinked. The voice had been Yugi's, but something about it was still not Yugi's speech. It sounded more confident, more adult than Yugi's, and there was a slight accent and inflection to it that Yugi did not have. It sounded like someone else was using Yugi's voice. 

"I have a new friend," said Yugi to his startled grandfather. "His name is Yami. He's going to be living with us from now on," and then, in his different voice, "living with Yugi, actually. We've worked out an agreement." 

"I think you're going to have to explain this more thoroughly," said Sugoroku. "Come in and have a cup of tea, er, both of you." 

They all went inside, and Sugoroku set about making a cup of tea for himself and one for his grandson. On second thought, he made an extra cup and set two in front of Yugi, while he kept the third for himself. Yugi didn't protest; after all, he'd run a long way, and he was thirsty. 

"Now," said his grandfather, "explain everything from the beginning." 

So Yugi and his new friend explained everything. Yugi did most of the talking, with Yami putting in only the occasional comment, making Sugoroku jump a little every time he spoke. When the tale was wrapped up, the old man sat back, staring up at the ceiling in thought. 

"Well, I must say, this is highly unusual," he said. "I'm familiar with Halves; I've seen quite a few of them in my day. Just three times in my long lifetime, I've seen a Half meet up with his other Half. When that happens, strange and marvelous things have been known to occur. A Half alone is powerful magic, and two together multiply the effect many times over. For two Halves to occupy the same body... I don't think such a thing has happened in all recorded history. Even I might not be able to predict what will come of this. Perhaps I should do a card reading." 

He got up and went to his desk, taking out a battered old set of cards. They had been shuffled so many times, the corners were worn to tatters and the centers were creased. He placed them in front of his grandson. 

"Shuffle these, both of you," he said. 

Yugi did so, and so did his other Half. When they were done, the wizard took the cards and set them out on the table in a particular pattern. He stared at it long and hard. 

"Hmm," he said. "I see... a long journey, and many trials. The rest is unclear, but it's plain to me that you two will do great things together. Welcome to our home, Yami. I'm sure you will fit in here, for as long as you stay." 

"Thank you," said the spirit. "I am grateful for your hospitality." 

Sugoroku waved a dismissive hand. "Think nothing of it. I'm sure the two of you together won't eat much more than just Yugi." He chuckled a little. 

"Thanks, Grandpa!" said Yugi. "I know Yami won't be any trouble for you." 

"Don't bother to thank me," his grandfather replied. "I can't very well turn him away now without turning you away, too, and that is one thing I'll never do. And now," he said briskly, "I think it is well past your bedtime. You look tired from your trip." 

Yugi nodded. He hadn't felt tired at all while Yami was in control of his body, but now that Yami had stepped aside, he realized he was exhausted. 

"I think we need some sleep," he decided. "Goodnight, Grandpa." 

"Goodnight, Yugi. Goodnight, Yami." 

Yugi shuffled up the stairs to his rooms, yawning widely. He kicked off his boots, and, not even bothering to undress, crawled into bed. Just as he was dropping off to sleep, he heard a voice whisper, _Rest now. I will watch over you._

"Aren't you sleepy, Yami?" 

_I slept for years inside my pendant. I'll stay awake for a while, now. Goodnight, my friend._

"My friend," Yugi agreed, and then he slept.

* * *

A pheasant lay hidden in the underbrush, listening to the noises around it. Something was coming, something large. The noise came closer, and panic rose up inside the small bird. With a whirring of wings, it threw itself up into the safety of the air. A split second later, a stone whizzed by, narrowly missing its left wing. 

"Ah, almost had it," said Yugi. 

_You are getting better,_ said Yami. _You'll hit the next one._

Yugi nodded, feeling cheerful. It had been two weeks since Yami had come to live with him, and he'd never been happier. Though the two of them were never apart, Yugi found that he never tired of the spirit's presence, and was at his most content when the two were actively spending time together. They had even worked out ways to play games together, and had been known to spend most of a night playing cards or chess. At night, they would sit by the fire, and Yami would tell Yugi and his grandfather stories of his adventures as a monster hunter. 

Yami was also keeping his word to protect Yugi from the negative attentions of the village boys. Knowing that Yugi wasn't likely to be able to defend himself in a head-on fight, he was managing instead by teaching Yugi how to fit in better. Yami had been a great hunter when he was alive, and now he was teaching Yugi the rudiments of how to trap and fish, and how to use a sling to take down small game. He was not very good at it yet, but Yami was patient with him, and so far their tally for the day was three squirrels, a rabbit, and a few assorted birds. 

"I think this is enough for dinner," Yugi decided. "It's probably about time to be heading home, too. Grandpa will be mad if we're late for dinner again!" He mimicked his grandfather's voice. "Ho, ho, if you young rascals were much later, I would have eaten the tablecloth!" 

Yami laughed. _I would hate to let that happen. That would be a poor way for me to repay his hospitality._

They set out towards the village, carrying the sack with their catch. Yugi reflected as he walked that his grandfather's acceptance of Yami wasn't all altruism; they ate much better now that they had someone who could bring home fish and game for them. Before, they had been obliged to make do on what grew in their vegetable garden, plus whatever Sugoroku could buy or bargain for with what he made from his spells. Things were much easier with Yami around to pitch in. 

As Yugi trudged up the road through the village, he encountered Ushio. He was leaning casually against a wall, whetting his hunting knife. His dark eyes followed Yugi curiously. 

"What's in the bag?" he asked. 

Yugi held it open to show him. Ushio studied the contents with a faintly disbelieving look. 

"Where'd you get all this?" he demanded. 

"I caught them," said Yugi proudly. "I have a new friend, and he's teaching me to hunt." 

"Is that so?" Ushio said. "Huh. It's about time you stopped acting like such a little girl. Who's this friend of yours?" 

"Um, you wouldn't know him. His name is Yami. He lives up in the mountains." 

"I've never met him." 

"Well, he's shy," said Yugi. 

"Huh," said Ushio again. "No kidding. You know... some of us are getting together tomorrow and going on a camping trip. I might be able to convince them to let you come along. You can show us all what you've learned." 

"Really? You mean it?" asked Yugi, eyes lighting up. 

Ushio shrugged. "Sure. It's no big deal. Just meet us by the well tomorrow morning at sunup. Got it?" 

"I'll be there, don't worry!" said Yugi eagerly. 

"Great," said Ushio. He grinned broadly. 

_You realize he's setting you up,_ said Yami, as they parted company with Ushio. 

Yugi nodded solemnly. _I know. But I can't hide from him and the others forever. Sooner or later I'm going to have to try and stand up to them. I can do a lot better with you here to help me._

_They aren't going to like you for it._

_Of course not - not right away. But it might be the first step in making them change their minds about me. You'll help me, won't you?_

_You know I will._

_Then I have nothing to worry about._

They returned home to find Sugoroku already setting things up for dinner. 

"There you are," he said as Yugi arrived. "I was starting to think I'd have to start without you, if you were any later." 

"I stopped to talk to someone," Yugi said. "Hey, Grandpa, can I go camping?" 

"Camping?" his grandfather repeated. 

"Yeah. Ushio from the village invited me to go camping with some of his friends. I can go, can't I? Please?" 

"Well, now, I don't know about that," Sugoroku said. "You know what the risks are..." 

"I'll be okay!" Yugi insisted. "Yami will look out for me. He'll keep me from getting into trouble. I promise! I just want... for a little while... to act like I'm _normal_ for a change." 

Sugoroku looked at him long and thoughtfully. 

"I suppose I can't keep you wrapped in cotton-wool forever," he said at last. "All right. You can go, as long as you promise to be careful!" 

"I will! I'll be really, really, _really_ careful!" said Yugi. "Thanks, Grandpa! You're the best." 

"That may be true," the old man answered, chuckling. "I'd be a whole lot better if I could get something to eat. Did you and your friend manage to catch anything today, or will I have to settle for eating the napkins? They might not be too bad, if we boiled them long enough..." 

Yugi laughed. "We caught a whole bunch of things! Just look and see!" 

For that evening, at any rate, all thoughts of Yugi's camping trip were set aside - not so much forgotten as simply not given any consideration. Yugi was privately thankful for that. He deeply wanted to believe that he was finally going to be _accepted_ by the village boys, that they would at last recognize them as one of their own. Maybe they would even start playing games with him again. He took up trapping and fishing out of his respect for Yami, but what he really wanted was someone to play games with. Having Yami around was wonderful, but you could never have too many playmates. 

He could barely close his eyes as he settled down to sleep that night. He tossed and turned, trying to settle down, telling himself that he had a big day tomorrow and would need his rest. It was no use; his mind continued to spin with plans and hopes and apprehensions. 

"I'm not keeping you awake, am I?" he asked his ever-present companion. 

_No, Yugi. You never keep me awake - or rather, I never feel tired unless you do. Since you are wide awake tonight, so am I. I prefer it this way. I am a creature of the night, by name and nature._

"No, you're not. Night things are bad, like monsters and ghosts." 

Laughter. _I am a ghost, Yugi. And darkness isn't bad in itself. It is comfort after days of blistering heat, and refuge for the hunted. It is a protector and a secret-keeper._

"Yeah, that sounds like you. No wonder they named you Yami." 

_Yes, that is one reason why. But night is also for sleeping, and that is what you need to do. Rest._

Yugi felt something come over him, a great lassitude that couldn't have been natural in his current state of nerves. He remembered suddenly that Yami had told him at their first meeting that he knew magic. 

"That's not fair," he protested. He didn't get any more say in the matter than that, because no sooner had he said it, he fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning, Yugi snapped awake with a jolt. It was nearly always like that; Yami's instincts were so highly trained that he knew exactly what time it was, asleep or awake, and woke Yugi up accordingly. It was false dawn; the sky was lightening, but there was as yet no sign of the sun itself. All was misty gray, both in the sky and on the earth. Yugi yawned and rubbed at his eyes. 

"Do I really have to get up?" he mumbled. 

_Yes, if you really want to go camping,_ Yami told him. 

Yugi thought it over and decided that even if he felt like sleeping for a few more weeks _now_, he would regret it if he missed this chance. He dragged himself out of bed and shuffled downstairs to find something for breakfast. His grandfather wouldn't wake up for quite some time - he was getting old, after all, and enjoyed sleeping in when he could - but Yugi was used to cooking for himself from time to time. He cobbled together a quick meal, threw a few things in a pack, and struck out for the road just as the sun's rim began peering over the horizon. 

A part of him had suspected that this camping trip was just a trick hatched by Ushio to see if he would get up at the crack of dawn for nothing, so he was almost surprised to see the town boys gathered around the well just as he'd said they would be. Yugi picked up his pace and trotted up to join them, smiling shyly. Ushio laughed to see him, and gave him a clap on the back that nearly sent him sprawling. 

"So you made it after all!" he boomed. "Didn't really think you would!" 

Yugi managed to look determined, an expression that didn't sit easily on his childish face. "I said I'd be here, and I am! I'm ready to go whenever you are!" 

"Ha, ha! Well, I guess we'd better get going!" said Ushio. "Wouldn't want to make little Yugi wait, would we?" 

Everyone laughingly agreed that they wouldn't want to make Yugi wait, and they set out on their journey. It was an easy enough trip, even for Yugi, who had shorter legs than most of the boys there. They passed the time singing songs and telling stories, something that Yugi knew how to do well enough (most of the stories he told were Yami's) and which no one would get jealous of him for doing, so the time passed pleasantly. It was easy for him to forget that things had changed between them - it felt just like the days when they were all much younger, and had been, if not close friends, than at least good playfellows. At last, just before noon, they came to the banks of a fair-sized stream, and there Ushio declared they would pitch their camp. 

"We're going to go fishing," Ushio declared to his followers. "What do you think, Yugi? Do you like fishing?" 

Yugi nodded, eager to please. "Yes. I like fishing." 

"Well, let's see you do it, then!" 

Yugi did. He cut himself a whippy branch for a pole, and took from his pocket a long bit of string with a fishhook tied to the end. His grandfather had found it in a drawer, along with a jumble of halfpenny nails, a buttonhook, a number of darning needles, some dead bugs, and other inexplicable odds and ends of the sort a wizard would accumulate. Being too old to want to sit on the muddy banks of a river himself, he had happily passed it along to Yugi. Yugi wouldn't have known what to do with it under ordinary circumstances, but Yami had taught him a great deal. Now he went through some nearby weeds until he found a healthy cricket, and slipped it onto his hook and cast it into the water. 

"Huh," said Ushio. "Guess you do know a little bit... but any kid could do that." 

Yugi said nothing, and the rest of the group spread themselves along the banks to attempt to catch fish. It was the wrong time of day for the fish to be truly hungry, but they managed to hook a few anyway, and Yugi did no worse than anyone else. In the meantime, they sat in companionable silence, sharing a quiet lunch and trying not to scare the fish. 

The day wore on, night fell, and Ushio called a halt to the day's activity. Two of the boys set up a campfire, and they settled around it to cook their fish (they had jointly agreed to share everything equally) and return to their pastime of singing and storytelling. After dinner, however, they grew a bit bored with this, and a few of the boys started up a game of dice. Yugi didn't mind dice - they weren't the most interesting game in the world, to him, requiring more luck than strategy - but he felt a bit uneasy when he realized they were playing for stakes now. It had always been in fun before, but now he watched as the boys bet coins or various small items on the game's outcome. 

"You feel like playing?" 

Yugi jumped; he had given all his attention to the game in front of him, and had not heard Ushio come up behind him. 

"Er... I don't know," he said, uncertain whether or not that was actually what Ushio wanted. 

"Oh, come on!" said Ushio, in his most cajoling tones. "It'll be fun! Don't tell me you're scared of a little wager!" 

"I really don't have anything to bet," said Yugi. "Everything I brought with me is the stuff I need for camping." 

"Everything?" A glint came into Ushio's eyes. "How about that necklace of yours, huh?" 

Yugi felt a chill go down his spine. He had worn the necklace day and night since he got it, under Yami's warning never to take it off. It had been grimy at first, but now it was polished so brightly he could see his reflection in it, gleaming like the gold it most surely was. 

"I can't part with this," he said, clutching it protectively. 

"Why not? It's just a piece of metal," said Ushio. "It's not even solid all the way through, is it? It probably isn't even pure gold, I'll bet. It can't be worth that much." 

_That's not true, and he knows it,_ said Yami. _He knows it's gold, and covets it._

"Besides," Ushio went on, "if you lose it, you can just play again and win it back. No big deal. We do things like that all the time. It's part of being friends. You want to be friends with us, don't you, Yugi?" 

"I do," said Yugi, "but I don't want to give up this necklace, thanks just the same. I'll tell you what, I'll bet my pocketknife instead. How's that?" 

"Listen, runt," said Ushio belligerently, "if you think you can walk around flaunting that necklace like you're something special, you better think again. We don't _like_ people who act too good for us. If you're so casual about a huge hunk of gold like that, so you can wear it around all the time like you're the Duke or something, then you can be casual about betting it. And if you aren't going to bet it, you can very well _share_ it with us!" 

"No!" said Yugi. He backed away, clutching the pendant with both hands. "You can't have this! It's mine!" 

"Not for long, it ain't!" 

Ushio made a lunge for it, but Yugi was quicker - or rather, he wasn't, but he had Yami to show him how to move. He dodged and twisted, just barely avoiding Ushio's clutching hands, but the act cost him. His foot fell on a rounded stone that wobbled beneath him, and he fell hard. He flung out his hands to try to break his fall, and a sharp twig stabbed into his palm and sliced it open. Yugi hissed in pain as he scrambled to his feet. Nearby, Ushio was doing likewise, glaring at Yugi with murder in his eyes. 

"Why, you little... How dare you?" 

"Me? Look at you!" Yugi exclaimed, caution forgotten in the face of his anger. "You never wanted to be friends all along, did you? You lured me out here with your little gang just so you could steal my necklace from me!" 

He pointed at Ushio in an accusing gesture, forgetting his wounded hand in the heat of his anger. A few drops fell from his bleeding palm. They sparkled like jewels in the firelight and puddled strangely on the ground, glittering softly pink. People stared. Yugi felt himself go pale as he opened his fist and looked at the cut, which was still freely leaking the pale shimmery substance that filled his veins. 

"What the...?" one of the boys murmured. 

"He's not human!" someone exclaimed. 

"No wonder!" Ushio exclaimed. "He's a _Half_, that's what he is! No wonder he never does anything! He didn't want anyone to know he's really a monster!" His shocked expression melted into a grin. "Well, this is different! If you were a human, we mighta just roughed you up a little for not letting me take what I want, but since you're not... well, nobody will care if there's one less monster in the world!" 

_Trouble,_ said Yami, and Yugi felt him wrench control. 

A second later, Ushio dove at him again, but this time, Yami was ready. He neatly sidestepped the attack this time, and then kicked him as he went by, striking at the back of one knee and causing his leg to buckle. Ushio stumbled and fell face-forward on the leafy ground. Yami leaped over his prone body and ran off into the woods. Behind him, he could hear the other boys yelling like hunting dogs in pursuit of game, but Yami was swifter and surer than any of them. He raced at top speed for as long as Yugi's body would bear it, and then slowed to a brisk walk until his breathing settled, and then ran again. On and on he went until he arrived, soaked with sweat, at Sugoroku's door. He pounded it with the last of his strength, and then dropped to his knees, gasping for air. He had been training Yugi as best he could, trying to help him build some muscle on his almost childlike body, but they had never run so many miles together before. 

"Who goes there?" called Sugoroku's voice from inside. 

"It is us," Yami replied. 

The door was flung open, and there stood Sugoroku in his nightcap and gown, holding a candle. He looked down at the sweat-sodden figure kneeling on his doorstep, and grabbed the boy by the arm and hauled him inside with a strength that was surprising for such an old man. 

"Sit right there," he said. "I won't be but a minute." 

He went away and came back with a steaming mug of something-or-other - neither Yugi nor Yami could keep up with what into Sugoroku's herbal teas, and every time they thought they'd learned everything, he came up with something new. Whatever the stuff in the mug was this time, it was refreshing, and by the time it was all gone, Yugi was back to his normal self again. 

"Feel better?" Sugoroku asked. 

Yugi nodded. 

"Then tell me what happened." 

Yugi did what he could to relate how Ushio had played a trick on him, and how Yugi had managed to injure himself and reveal his true nature. He finished on an apologetic note and waited, not knowing what his grandfather would do. Somehow, this all seemed to wrong for a mere scolding, though he was sure he deserved one. 

"Hmm," said his grandfather. "I had a feeling something like this would happen... but yet, we knew we couldn't keep your secret forever. Perhaps this was fated. Let me see..." 

He went and got his fortune-telling cards again and laid them out on the table, one after the other. 

"I see, I see," he said. "Yes, it is as I thought. The boys are angry at you, Yugi - angry and frightened. They are convincing themselves you are a monster. Soon the whole village will know. If you stay here much longer, it will be very dangerous for you." 

"What should I do?" asked Yugi, his voice very small. 

"What can you do? You'll have to leave," his grandfather replied. "This is no home for you anymore. Perhaps it never was. You were always destined for great things, Yugi, and you'll accomplish them better out in the wide world than you will gathering dust in this little town. The time is right: you are a man now, and you have Yami to look after you and guide you. With him, you can take care of yourself as a man should. It's time at last for you to go out and seek your fortune." 

"I can't leave you, Grandpa," said Yugi. 

"Nonsense," said the old man grumpily. "I got along fine before you came along, and I can do it again. Oh, I will miss you, but that's something all families must go through, when the children are grown. I did it once, years and years ago, when my own son went out into the world. I'll get by. As for you... my advice is to take yourself to the Baron's city, three days walk to the east of here. You'll blend in more easily there, and find work to support yourself. That's where I'd start, anyway. Once you've earned a bit of money, you can go anywhere in the wide world that suits you." 

There was a pause. Yugi heard Yami say, _He is right. We can no longer stay here. If we do, Ushio and his friends might attack your grandfather as well as us. We must leave, for his safety as well as ours._

"You're right," said Yugi, to both of them. "It is time for me to leave, I guess. I just... I'll miss you, Grandpa." 

"I will, too," Grandpa replied. "I promised when I took you in that I would treat you as my own grandson, and I have always loved you like one. But say! This isn't forever. Someday we'll find each other again, and you'll have a lot of good stories to tell me, I'll wager. Perhaps even a pretty wife to liven things up for us, eh? In the meantime, my cards will tell me how you're doing. We'll find each other." 

Yugi managed to smile. "Thanks, grandpa. I love you, too." 

Packing was the hardest thing he'd ever done. He couldn't imagine that from now on, he would be sleeping in some strange place that wasn't his comfortable nook in a broken-down windmill, with an elderly wizard snoring downstairs. There were so many comfortable things, here, and he knew he could only escape with the bare essentials, and only as many of those as he could carry on his back. He realized he was crying as he packed, and no matter what he did, he couldn't check the tears that spilled down his face. He did try to wipe his face clean and look unconcerned as he hugged his grandfather goodbye, but he broke down in the middle of it and sobbed all over again. 

"Enough of that," said the old man gruffly. "Be off with you, now - you've wasted enough time!" 

Yugi nodded, too choked with emotion to speak. He didn't know what else to do or say, so he turned and began trudging up the path that led to the Baron's city, many miles away. On a tall hill, he paused to take one look back at the old windmill, with its broken blades turning lazily in a vagrant breeze. There was one window alight in the top floor; someone was up there watching the road. Yugi waved one last time, and started down the hill. 

_I'll miss him too,_ said Yami. _He was kind to me, when he had no reason to be. He was as much a grandfather to me, in the short time I knew him, as he was to you. But don't be afraid, Yugi. I will never leave you._

"I know," said Yugi. "Whever I go, there you are, even in the Baron's city!" 

_So let us go there, then._

"Let's," Yugi agreed, and they did.

* * *

The Baron, not knowing what kind of person was even then making his way towards him, was relaxing in his rooms, when a knock came on the door. 

"I have a report for you, my lord," said the messenger. "Will you hear it?" 

"Why should I?" the Baron snapped back. 

"It concerns a report of a Half." 

"Come in, then, and make it quick." 

The servant came in and sized up his master. He was a young man, in his late teens, and had inherited his place not long ago, after the mysterious death of his father. How such a thing came to be, no one knew, though there were few who dared to say it was the fault of the Baron who now ruled them. There were many who said they didn't care either way, for the old Baron had been a ruthless man, and while this new one was fierce and proud, he didn't subject them to the degradations that the former Baron had. It helped that he was handsome, as well, with his intelligent face and deep blue eyes. 

"My lord Baron," said the servant, "a report has come in that a young Half man was seen in a forest some three days' journey west of here. He attacked another young man of the village and stole an article of jewelry from him, and then fled when the boy and his friends tried to apprehend him." 

"Any idea of his whereabouts now?" 

"No, my lord." 

"Very well. Bring me my hunters." 

The hunters were sent for. They arrived moments later: two young men in light armor, bearing slim swords at their sides and crossbows slung on their backs. One had unruly blonde hair that seemed forever in danger of falling across his eyes and obscuring his vision; the other's hair was darker and more closely cropped. Both were tall, lean, muscular, and competent- looking. 

"You have a job for us?" asked the blonde man eagerly. 

"Yes," the Baron replied. "A monster for you to hunt. Go to the village west of here, and begin searching for any traces of a Half which was seen there. The trail may be a few days old, by now. Will that be a problem?" 

"No, my lord," said the dark-haired one. "We'll find him, no matter how far he's gone." 

"Good," said the Baron. "See to it. Remember, you will not receive any payment until I see that Half delivered to me personally." 

Both hunters bowed. 

"Yes, Baron Kaiba," they said. 

**To Be Continued...**


	2. Second Half

**

Second Half

**

**

By: SilvorMoon

**

Yugi had to stop walking. For the past two days, he had done almost nothing but walk, from the moment he opened his eyes in the morning until the moment he lay down to sleep that night. He had even eaten while walking, sometimes, chewing on a loaf of bread or piece of smoked meat as he trudged endlessly onward. It was a lucky thing for him that he was used to walking for long stretches, or he never would have been able to make it, even with Yami's encouragement. Even now, that wasn't the reason why he had to stop. They had come within sight of the city. 

_It has grown since my time,_ said Yami, looking over the cluster of lights on the hill. _I hope I can still find my way around. We will have to be cautious._

Yugi nodded silently, staring at the lights. In his own home town, nearly everything was centered around a single main street; even from afar, he could count the lights from their windows and know how many buildings were down there. From where he stood now, it looked like there were as many lights as there were bees in a beehive, and he had just as good a chance of counting them all. He could only imagine how many people must be in there. He had never in his life seen a building bigger than the windmill, but even from here, he could make out a massive structure that his old home would have fit into many times over. 

_Don't be worried,_ said Yami. _I've been in cities bigger than this one. We'll be all right._

Yugi nodded and began trudging down the road again, urging himself into the city. If Yami promised it would be all right, it would be. 

He did finally reach the city just as the last wisps of sunset had faded into true darkness. It was not as grand as he'd imagined it would be when he was seeing it from a distance, and he was a bit ashamed to find himself wishing that he could go back out and sleep under the clean trees on a patch of turf somewhere. Yami explained to him that in cities like these, the outskirts often housed the poorest people, while the richest arrayed themselves close to the home of the Baron himself, or the marketplaces near the center of town. They could have seen a better view, he said, if they had taken the main entrance, but Yami had chosen to sneak in through a side passage in hopes of not drawing attention to himself. Tomorrow they would see a better part of town. Yugi agreed with him, but expressed a wish that they not stay there any longer than they had to. All he could tell of the city by this light was that it was abominably crowded, and also stunk of every kind of refuse imaginable, and that he had to walk carefully to avoid stepping in the trash and general filth on the streets. 

"What are we going to do here?" Yugi asked his companion. It was night, after all, and he wasn't used to places where people would walk the streets after dark. 

_Look for work,_ Yami replied. _We have very little money, not even enough to stay in a boarding-house tonight. Money is everything, in the city._

"I'm not sure what we'll do for that," said Yugi thoughtfully. "Normally I'd offer to cut some firewood or something, but I don't think that will work around here." 

_I have some skills that will get us by, if necessary,_ answered Yami, _but that must wait until morning. No one will be hiring, this time of day. For tonight, we need to find a sheltered place to sleep, away from prying eyes._

They wandered a while, seeking a spot where they could camp out for a while. Yami didn't seem particular, but Yugi was not eager to bed down in the filthy alleyways or squalid streets. While they were still trying to work out an acceptable compromise, they were accosted by a woman. 

"Hey, fella," she said. "Lookin' for a place to sleep tonight?" 

Yugi looked at her, and then looked away quickly, and then looked back. He had never seen a woman dressed like this before - or _not_ dressed, as it might have been more accurate to say, because the garment she wore was barely enough to cover her decently. He wasn't sure if he was expected to look at her or not. Despite the provocative way she dressed, there was something washed-out about her that dimmed her allure somewhat. Still, if she was willing to offer them a safe resting-place... 

Yugi was about to accept the woman's kind offer, when Yami abruptly cut him off. 

"Thank you, but no," he said curtly. "We don't have any money to pay you with." 

"That's all right," she drawled. "I don't have any other, hm, boarders tonight, and I like the look of you. I'll let you stay with me for free, just for tonight. Maybe I can even get a pretty boy like you a job. Easy work, good pay. You'll like it there." 

Yugi belatedly realized just what it was that this woman was offering, and was suddenly very glad that Yami had chosen to intervene. 

"I'm afraid I must refuse," said Yami. 

"Aw, c'mon, don't be shy," said the woman. "You don't have to make up your mind so fast. Let me give you a little sample." 

She managed to latch hold of him, and leaned forward to bestow a kiss. She never found her mark, for Yami twisted quickly away, dancing out of her reach. Then he reached for the pendant and said something in a language Yugi didn't understand. Whatever it was, it made something happen, which Yugi couldn't see, but the woman obviously could. Her sultry expression shifted to one of horror, and she ran into the night, shrieking as if her life was in danger. 

"What was _that_?" Yugi exclaimed. 

_Nothing,_ said Yami. _You know this charm is magical, don't you? I used it to frighten her a bit, so she would leave us alone. Now perhaps she'll learn to take no for an answer. Come. Let us find safer lodgings._

The prostitute forgotten, they continued scouring the area, until they finally found an alley which held, among other odds and ends, an abandoned crate. It could not have been there long, for it was comparatively clean and sound, and large enough that a boy like Yugi could curl up inside it if he wanted to. He did, and tugged the lid halfway over it to hide him from view. It was stuffy inside, and more warm than was comfortable. He dozed anyway.

* * *

"Well, this is great, huh? This is just _wonderful_." 

"Aw, what are you complaining about?" 

"Hey, you don't want to leave town, either! _You_ don't want to go stomping around the middle of nowhere and leave the city girls behind." 

The dark-haired monster hunter blushed and subsided. 

"That's better," said his fair-haired companion. "We're monster hunters, right? And if Kaiba says we gotta go to this village and catch a monster, that's what we do. The sooner we get done, the sooner we get back, the sooner we get paid, and we can ditch this deal. I tell you one thing, though - I won't be sorry to see the last of that guy. He gives me the creeps, you know?" 

"Yeah, no kidding," his friend agreed. He sighed. "If the money wasn't so good, I'd quit right now. There's got to be a better job for a monster hunter around here somewhere." 

As if on cue, there was a distant scream - one that drew rapidly nearer. Before the two young men could react, a woman ran up the road, shrieking in terror. As soon as she caught sight of these two armed and dangerous characters, she flung herself at them and began to cry. 

"Save me! I implore you, good men, save me!" she wailed. 

"Save you from what?" said the blonde hunter. 

"A horrible monster! It attacked me back there in the alley - a horrible thing with glowing red eyes and fangs and claws! It must have been some kind of demon!" 

"Did it hurt you?" asked the other hunter, who was the one being cried on the most. 

She shook her head. "The creature took the form of a handsome young man first, to lure me close, and then he tried to force himself on me against my will. When I refused his advances, he showed his true form, and I ran away in fright. Please, find this creature and kill it before it attacks some other innocent woman!" 

The monster hunters looked at her as if doubting she was anything like innocent, but it was obvious that she was terrified of _something_. 

"What do you think?" asked the blonde. "Go have a quick look?" 

"Might as well," the other replied. "Kaiba might be steamed if we just walked off and left a monster in his city." 

"He hired us to catch Halves," the first one said. "He didn't say anything about anything else." 

"Maybe he'll pay us extra!" 

"Point." The blonde turned back to the young woman. "Looks like you're in luck, lady. It just so happens we're Jonouchi and Honda, expert monster hunters to the Baron himself. If anyone can get rid of this demon of yours, we can. So you just go on home and don't worry about it, okay?" 

The young woman was volubly grateful, and they had a time convincing her that they didn't need any reward other than her thanks. They finally managed to extricate themselves from her grasp and set out to do their job. They trudged off in the direction they'd seen her coming from, keeping their swords loose in their sheathes and their eyes peeled for trouble. 

Meanwhile, Yugi had actually managed to nod off inside his box. He was having a peculiar dream: someone he couldn't see clearly kept asking him what shape something should be. Yugi kept saying that he didn't know what shape it would be, to ask someone else, but the voice kept pleading that he _must_ know, it was _important_. When Yugi continued to protest that he didn't know the answer, the person rushed at him and began shaking him angrily. Yugi gave a squeal, and toppled over. He opened his eyes to see that someone had tripped over the lid of his box in the dark and fallen. Yugi froze as he realized that there was a pair of feet only a few inches away from him, and they furthermore belonged to someone carrying weapons. 

"Honda, you klutz! Some monster hunter you are," said a voice out of Yugi's range of vision. "Some hunter you turned out to be!" 

"It's dark back here," the one called Honda complained lamely. 

The other man came and knelt next to his companion, preparing to help him to his feet. Then he stopped. He looked directly at Yugi. 

"Hey!" he said. "What are you doing there?" 

"I was sleeping, until people started tripping over me," Yugi replied. 

"You haven't seen a monster around anywhere, have you? Or a woman?" the hunter replied. 

"I haven't spoken to anyone all night," said Yugi truthfully. After all, he'd let Yami do all the talking for him. "I've just been sitting here, minding my own business." 

"Oh," said the hunter. He peeled his friend off the ground. "Well, sorry for bothering... hey!" he said suddenly, his expression turning calculating. "Hey, I think I've seen your face before. Hang on a minute." 

He rummaged in one of his pockets and pulled out a scrap of paper with a picture drawn on it. Yugi was startled to see that it was a slightly inaccurate (not especially flattering), but recognizable image of himself. 

"What the...?" he said. "Where did you get that?" 

"From the Baron," answered the hunter. "Seems _somebody_ sent a report up from the country, saying that a Half was causing trouble down there a couple days ago. That wouldn't be you, would it?" 

"Ah, well, I wasn't causing trouble, exactly..." Yugi stammered. 

He tried to back into the far corner of his box, even though he knew it was a futile effort. The hunters had him cornered, boxed up neatly to be carried away as they pleased. 

_I'll give them a fight, anyway,_ said Yami. 

He shifted, tensed, and finally lunged, making a desperate dive for safety. The monster hunters hadn't been expecting that move, and it startled them for a moment - but not for very long. They pounced on him and began trying to wrestle him into submission. Yami put up a terrific fight, but he was up against two competent fighters who had him boxed into a narrow alley, and they were both armed. When the swords came out, he knew he had lost. He slumped in defeat and allowed his captors to lead him away. 

_What are we going to do now?_ Yugi asked silently. 

Yami smiled wryly. _It looks like we pay a visit to the Baron._

* * *

Never in his life had Yugi thought he would be granted a face-to-face visit with the Baron himself. Now that it was happening, he didn't like it. That fact probably had something to do with the fact that he was still being held tightly by the two monster hunters, one on each arm, both of whom had been explaining to him exactly what they'd do if he tried to fight them off again. The three of them stood in the center of what appeared to be an audience hall of some sort; Yugi could imagine the peasants coming here to air their grievances to their lord, or trials being held here. There were even rows of benches along the wall. All of those were empty, though. The only person seated in the room was the young Baron himself. 

There was someone else, though. Standing behind the proud man on the throne was another person, a child. He was dressed as richly as the baron himself was, and wore a thin gold circlet on his brow to hold his shaggy hair out of his face, but the eyes that peered out at Yugi were sad, even pitying. Yugi found himself wondering who the boy was, and what he was doing here. No sooner had he started wondering, when the boy ducked behind the throne and hid. 

"Well," said the Baron, "that _was_ quick, wasn't it? I had expected it to take days, and you bring me the culprit in a matter of hours." 

"He practically walked right up to us," the blonde guard (Yugi had heard his friend call him Jonouchi) declared proudly. "He must have been heading this way ever since that dustup back where he came from." 

"Humph," said the Baron. "Well, boy? What do you have to say for yourself? Were you thinking you could hide from Baron Kaiba in his own city?" 

"I wasn't thinking I could hide from you at all," said Yugi. He felt a bit annoyed at being called "boy" by someone who couldn't have been much older than he was, even if he was a Baron. "Was I supposed to?" 

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "It's a good thing I'm not hunting you for your intelligence." He sighed. "Well, let's have a look at you and make certain you're the genuine article." 

He got up from his throne and strode briskly over to Yugi. He looked him over from top to bottom, and then slipped a little knife out of a sheath and casually applied its blade to the back of Yugi's arm. Yugi gave a yelp of pain and outrage - Kaiba hadn't bothered with just nicking the skin. Even now, blood was dripping unchecked down his arm and onto the floor. Kaiba eyed the peculiar pink fluid with satisfaction. 

"What did you do that for?" Yugi complained. He hardly noticed as the sad eyed boy slipped out from nowhere again and began to bandage his arm. 

"I had to make sure you were really a Half," Kaiba answered complacently. 

"Couldn't you have just taken my pulse or something?" 

"I could, but this is an unmistakable sign. There is nothing else in the world like the blood of a Half." He turned his attention to the hunters. "Throw him in the cellar with the other one. They can keep each other company while they wait for the end to come." 

"What about our reward?" Honda blurted. 

"You will get it after this boy is safely behind bars," Kaiba snapped. "Go!" 

They went, dragging poor Yugi between them. He managed one last look over his shoulder at the Baron, with the shadowy boy standing beside him and watching sadly. Then he was jerked into a hallway and lost all sight of both of them.

* * *

There had never been a dungeon in the Baron's manor. Kaiba was currently making do by tossing his prisoners in an old and empty wine cellar, which was secure enough to hold Yugi in place, at least. He came to it expecting to be unceremoniously tossed down the stairs, so he was surprised when the guards stopped, opened the door, and gestured him inside. 

"Sorry we have to do this to you," said Jonouchi. "It's nothing personal." 

"Yeah," Honda agreed. "We didn't think when we took this job that it would be _people_... well, kind of people... You know what I mean." 

"Wouldn't bother me a bit if you escaped as soon as we got paid," said Jonouchi. He shrugged. "Well, good luck, I guess. See ya." 

He gave Yugi a gentle shove and closed the door behind him. Yugi watched as the two of them ambled back up the hallway. 

"It's like everyone around here feels sorry for me but the Baron," he said aloud. 

"It's possible," said a soft voice. 

Yugi jumped. He looked wildly around the dark room, until his eyes finally adjusted enough to pick out a pale shape against the gloom. It was a boy, roughly the same age as Yugi. His clothes looked like they had seen better days, but his face and eyes were gentle, and he gave Yugi a soft smile as their gazes met. 

"Hello," he said. "Did I startle you? I didn't mean to." 

"It's okay," said Yugi. "I did hear the Baron say something about 'the other one'. That's you, I guess." 

"Yes. My name is Ryou." 

"I'm Yugi. Nice to meet you. It's not nice to meet you _down here_, but..." 

"But we are here," said Ryou, "so we might as well be friendly to each other while we can. We may not have a lot of time, I'm afraid. At least, I'm assuming you're a Half?" 

Yugi nodded. 

"So am I," Ryou continued. "I thought I would be getting company, before long. He collects them, you know." 

"Collects Halves?" Yugi repeated. "Why?" 

"I don't know," answered Ryou, frowning a bit. "It's been going on for years, now. I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it, though. I only know because I used to live in the Count's city, a long way from here. The Count has declared a bounty on Halves of all kinds - young or old, rich or poor, it doesn't matter! He wants them all." 

"Why?" asked Yugi. 

Ryou shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not sure anyone does. I finally had to get out of the city, before they came to take me, as well. He's cleaned them out entirely, from what I hear, and now he's beginning to look into other cities and towns." 

"And this has been going on for years?" Yugi repeated. "It's a wonder we weren't caught before!" 

"Not really. Most people are afraid of Halves, you know. They would rather just leave them alone, unless they're paid monster hunters like those two that brought you here. They didn't catch me, though. Baron Kaiba took me out of the city jail." 

Yugi looked at his new friend, and thought he'd never seen anyone less likely to be thrown in a jail for any reason. Ryou smiled at him. 

"I know, I know. I don't look like a criminal, do I?" he said. "I couldn't tell you why they put me there. To this day, I have no idea. Perhaps Kaiba was behind that, as well. He's the only one I know who has been actively enforcing the laws about Halves. Every few months, he sends a group of them to the Count's palace - and as far as I know, they never come back." 

"That's odd," said Yugi. "I don't know much about the Count or the Baron, but I always heard they didn't like each other. Why is he being so cooperative about this?" 

"I don't know. I keep thinking there must be some ulterior motive - though it isn't as if we're in a position to find out," Ryou replied. He sighed. "I am sorry you're here, Yugi. Now we're both doomed together. I'd rather go alone than have to watch you go through this with me. Now we're both doomed." 

"I wouldn't give up hope just yet," said Yami. "There may still be a way out of this." 

Ryou boggled. "What in the world...?" 

Yugi sighed. "It's a long story. Got a minute?"

* * *

Meanwhile, the two monster hunters had returned to their employer, and were waiting eagerly for their just rewards. 

"Are you sure I can't convince you to stay longer?" asked Kaiba, as if he really didn't mind either way. 

"Nah, this job ain't really our thing," said Jonouchi. "We'll just take our payment and go, if that's okay with you." 

"I couldn't care less," said Kaiba. "You monster hunters come cheaply enough. Mokuba, bring them their money and let them go on their way." 

The boy next to him nodded silently and walked out of the room. 

"Cute kid," said Honda, by way of being friendly. "What is he, your personal servant?" 

"He's my brother," Kaiba snapped, "and you don't need to talk about him." 

"All right, all right, I get it!" said Honda. He grinned sheepishly and shot a look at his partner as if to say, _I didn't know he had a brother!_ Jonouchi looked back and shrugged a little to indicate that he hadn't, either. 

There was a scream. Kaiba went pale and leaped from his seat, running in the direction the sound had come from - the direction his brother had gone. After a split second of hesitation, the monster hunters ran after him. 

In the hallway, they found Mokuba, and he was not alone. Standing over him was a was a man in a dark cloak, whose face was concealed by his hood. Only a few strands of pale hair fell into view. He was clutching Mokuba tightly with one hand, while the other held a hefty sack that rattled and clinked like something valuable. 

"Here's a nice prize," he said gloatingly. "I can't decide which is more valuable - the boy, or the gold. What do you think?" 

"Give him back!" Kaiba demanded. "Give him back, or I'll...!" 

"What will you do?" asked the thief. "What will you be able to do before I break his neck?" 

He tightened his grip. Mokuba's face was beginning to go purple, and he tugged futilely at his captor's arm as he struggled to breathe. 

Kaiba backed off a step. "Take the money. Just let him go. Let him go, and you have my word I won't have you followed." 

"Oh, is that so?" asked the thief. "Do you think you could follow me even if you tried? Luckily, I'm more interested in gold than children, so you can have this one back." 

He gave Mokuba a shove, and the boy ran over to his brother's side. Kaiba lay a hand on Mokuba's shoulder, but his gaze never strayed from the thief. 

"Thank you for the gift," said the thief, giving a covetous glance to the sack he was carrying. "I'll think of you as I melt it all down." 

"You won't have a chance," Kaiba snapped back. "Guards, kill him! Now!" 

The two hunters hesitated. 

"You know, we're monster hunters, not guards," said Jounouchi. 

"Never mind that! Get him!" 

The thief laughed. "Oh, am I bothering you? I don't need their help to find my way out, thank you very much. You may see me again someday, Baron. Be sure you have more treasure waiting when I come." 

He threw back his head and laughed, and the hood that had hidden his features fell away. There was a moment of blank silence as everyone suddenly recognized what they were seeing. A moment later, the monster hunters sprang forward with cries of shock and anger, but they were already too late. In that split second of hesitation, the thief did something complicated with one hand. A pendant that hung around his neck flashed, and then he was suddenly and silently not there. The monster hunters were just barely able to react in time to save themselves from crashing straight into the wall. Kaiba barely noticed them. He was staring, wild-eyed, at the place where the thief had been. 

"How did he get out?" he shouted. "You fools - you let him escape!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Yugi was doing the best he could to deal with this new situation. He had managed to take his new friend's mind off of his troubles by describing the interesting history of his other soul. Ryou seemed fascinated by the whole thing. Yugi got the impression that he had not, before now, had much contact with other Halves, and he was enjoying the chance to talk with someone who understood what it was like, having to live each day hoping no one would notice anything odd, and having to be so studiously careful not to injure himself. It seemed that he, like Yugi, had taken an interest in games as an alternative to the rougher modes of entertainment. He still had a deck of cards in his pocket, and it wasn't long before Yugi and he had started a game. It was as good a way as any to take their minds off the fact that they seemed to be destined for a one-way trip to the Count's castle to meet an unknown fate. 

They were surprised to hear a soft rattle at the door to their makeshift prison. Both of them looked to the door, but the difference in lighting was such that all they could see was a silhouette standing in the doorway. It crossed Yugi's mind to wonder if yet another unfortunate soul was being brought to join them. Then he realized that the newcomer was neither Baron Kaiba nor one of the monster hunters. This person wore a cloak, with the hood pulled up to cover his head. He spoke. 

"So, there you are, my little friend. It was very careless of you to come here." 

"We aren't your friends," said Yugi. 

"I wasn't talking to you," the stranger snapped. "Ryou, Ryou, I thought you were more considerate than this! Why must you make life so difficult for me?" 

The words were spoken in an almost soothing tone, but Yugi could see a wicked glimmer of eyes beneath the shadow of the hood. 

"I'm sorry," said Ryou politely, "but I think there must be some mistake. I have no idea who you are. I certainly didn't mean to cause anyone any inconvenience, though I can't see how I'm inconveniencing you by being shut in a wine cellar." 

"Haven't you figured it out already? No wonder they finally caught you." 

He raised his hand and pushed the hood back, revealing his face. The hair was a bit more untidy than Ryou's, and the eyes had a calculating glint to them, but other than a faint scar along one cheek, his face was a perfect match for Ryou's. 

"Now do you see?" he asked. "Or is it still more than your feeble intellect can handle?" 

"You... exactly like me..." said Ryou weakly. "You're a Half, aren't you? My other Half..." 

"If it comforts you to think of it in those terms. I prefer to think of you as _mine_. Come now; we're wasting time. I've come to get you out of here." 

Yugi and Ryou exchanged glances, but both of them seemed to have the same idea. 

_There is no safety to be found here,_ said Yami. _We can escape him more easily than this room. I don't even believe he's armed._

"I'm for it," said Yugi. "What about you, Ryou?" 

"I'm not leaving without him," said the other Half. "He doesn't get a choice. Come!" 

Ryou got to his feet and began gathering up his cards, looking slightly dazed. He and Yugi followed the man out of the room and let him lead them down the labyrinthine passages that made up the Baron's home. 

"Why are you doing this?" Ryou asked. 

"Shh," was all his rescuer said. "They'll hear us." 

He led them to a small gap, hardly big enough to be called a door, which led to a narrow passage. It was the kind of thing that had become popular some years ago among the architecture of the homes of nobles: a narrow hallway hidden behind the walls, where servants could come and go unseen, without bothering their employers when they weren't needed. The entrance to this servants' passage was cunningly hidden, but the cloaked man seemed to know exactly what he was looking for, and made directly for it. It was very dark and dusty inside, but he seemed to think it was a safe place. Still, he led his charges a good distance before he risked any conversation. 

"Kaiba doesn't use these anymore," he murmured. "He doesn't trust anyone. He wants his servants out where he can see them. I doubt anyone here remembers these passages." 

"Who _are_ you?" Ryou blurted out. 

"Hm. My name is Bakura. I am a thief," the hooded man replied. "Jailbreaks are usually not my line of work, but you are a special case, young Ryou. _You_ were just lucky," he added, with a sharp glance in Yugi's direction. 

"So why rescue Ryou, then?" Yugi asked. "Is it because he's your other Half?" 

"Not exactly," said Bakura casually. "He's just useful to me. I've been living a good life, up until now, because of him, and I don't intend to just hand him over to the Count. He's more useful to me." 

"Useful? What on earth for?" Ryou replied. 

"For stealing! What else?" 

Ryou shook his head. "You must have the wrong person. I've never helped anyone steal anything. I've never even seen you before today." 

"I'm not wrong. I've been following you around for years. I know you very well by now. I know you used to live with your parents and a sister named Amane, until accusations began cropping up that you were committing crimes and putting magic on people, so you struck out on your own. You could never get rid of those accusations, though, could you? They followed you around wherever you went." 

Bakura's eyes widened as the realization sunk in. "It was you! You were doing it all! They saw you and thought you were me!" 

"Why do you look so shocked? I took care of you, didn't I? You never got caught, until now. I always made sure you had a waterproof alibi. Wasn't that nice of me?" 

"You just didn't want anyone to realize there were two of you," Yugi accused. 

"And I am only rescuing you two because I don't want to lose my cover. That doesn't change the fact that I am helping you. If you don't like it, you can go back to that cell and wait to be taken to the Count. Do you want to go see the Count? I've _been_ there. I've seen what becomes of the Halves who fall into his clutches. I'm much safer than the Count is. At least I have an interest in keeping you alive and more-or-less sane." 

"Don't worry about it," said Yugi, seeing Ryou looking doubtful. "It doesn't matter why he's helping you now. Let's get out of danger first, and then worry what to do about him." 

Ryou considered that, and finally nodded grudgingly. 

"It's true I'm better off alive than dead," he said. 

"You could always take up thieving," said Bakura, giving him a sly look. "I used to have quite a fine little gang, before the Count started meddling in my life. I can't risk taking on too much help when anyone could turn me in for the bounty, but _you'll_ never let him know about me. You'd run the risk of the Count and the Baron capturing you again, too." 

"I don't want to be a thief," said Ryou flatly. 

Bakura shrugged. "Suit yourself." His gaze strayed over to Yugi. "And you? You move like someone who's at home in the dark. Do you have any interest in thieving?" 

Yugi wanted to say that he only moved that way because he was letting Yami help him pick his way through the shadows, but he held his tongue. Yami wasn't the kind of thing he could tell just anyone about. 

"I don't want to be a thief, either," he said. 

"I see. Already have all the treasure you want?" 

Yugi saw where the thief was looking, and clutched at his amulet. "You can't have this! It's special." 

Bakura smiled cryptically. "I know. Bought with blood, I'm sure." 

_Don't correct him,_ said Yami. 

Yugi was puzzled. _You don't mean you really...?_

_Just don't correct him. Let him think what he wants to think._

Yugi met Bakura's eye and nodded slightly. That seemed to say something to the thief, because his expression turned serious, and he looked away. 

"Fine," said Bakura. "I got a tidy haul from the Baron's treasury already. I don't need your soiled trinkets." 

That was all the conversation they could get out of him. After a few more minutes of bumping blindly through the passageway, it finally opened up to a kitchen. Since it was late at night, there wasn't so much as a scullery maid cleaning up. They were able to slip out into the kitchen gardens, and from there, they escaped back into the town's empty streets. 

"Here is where I leave you," said Bakura. "You'll probably see me again. It's not like me to do favors without expecting something in return. Until then, try not to get captured anymore. I can't bail you out all the time." 

With that, he gave a flick of the wrist, and the pendant flashed once more. Then there was nothing left but a small breeze left by his passage. Ryou stared. 

"He can do magic!" he said, plainly impressed. 

Yugi shrugged. He'd seen his grandfather do magic too many times for it to amaze him much. Still, to vanish without even saying a word... that was strong magic, much stronger than Yugi would have expected from a simple thief. Even his grandfather, a mage by profession, couldn't do it anymore, now that age was getting into his bones. 

"Let's get out of here," he said, "before the Baron's hunters come looking for us." 

They fled together towards the far end of town, right out to the city limits. They saw few people, and passed fewer - everyone they met seemed to be going the same direction as Ryou and Yugi. Yugi wondered about this, but Yami assured him that they were less likely to be found and attacked by the hunters if they blended in with a crowd. Still, it was a question what anyone was doing out at this time of night. 

It wasn't long before they learned the answer. Beyond the city limits flickered the lights of fires, just barely illuminating a cluster of tents and wagons patterned in every color of the rainbow. The sound of music drifted up from it, both from instruments and human voices, all of it mixing with the sound of laughter and cries of amazement. That could mean only one thing: Wind People. Despite his predicament, Yugi felt his spirits lift a little. He had been only a small child the last time he had seen any Wind People, and they had only stayed in his village long enough to buy a few supplies. He had been so young then, it had been difficult to stay awake long enough to see them properly. 

"Should we go over there?" he suggested to Ryou. 

"I'd like that," Ryou replied. "I've never been to a Wind People's camp. I always thought it was too risky to be in such crowds, but if we don't have anything to lose anyway, I'd like to have a look at them before I go." He laughed a little. "Maybe they'll take pity on me. I'm practically a Wind Person myself, I've moved around so much." 

That was all the encouragement Yugi needed. He picked up his pace, making a beeline towards the encampment. 

He had to slow down as he came nearer to the site of the excitement, and Ryou caught up with him, panting a little from the brisk pace. There were a large number of people gathered here, more than Yugi would have imagined from seeing the nearly empty city streets, but of course everyone who could be here had come to see the legendary performers. Wind People were an entire society of performers, who traveled from place to place showing off their skills. Everywhere Yugi looked, he saw them in their brightly colored clothes, each doing his or her utmost to draw the attention of the crowds. Acrobats tumbled, jugglers threw knives or flaming torches high into the night sky, singers and musicians poured out their melodies, illusionists conjured of scenes of beauty and wonder. Not all the entertainment was so tame: there were knife throwers and sword swallowers, and strong young men who would fight with each other in intense competition, either with swords or with their bare hands. 

"Amazing," Ryou murmured, staring at a magician who was pulling flowers and live birds out of nowhere. 

Yugi nodded, not paying attention. His gaze had been caught by a girl, who was raised on a pedestal nearby, dancing for the coins the crowd threw to her. Yugi was familiar with the country dances his fellow villagers did during the town festivals and at weddings, but he'd never seen anyone dance like this. It didn't seem to have any kind of pattern to it, but there was a rhythm, a motion as free and natural as the flight of a bird. She dipped and twirled, her hands tracing arcs across the sky, her hair floating around her face as she spun. The dance itself may have been wild, but her movements were perfectly controlled; she never looked down, and yet she could dance within a hair's breadth of the stage's edge without so much as losing her balance. Her dance was one of freedom, pure unbridled joy of movement. At any moment, Yugi half expected she would turn into music itself and float away on the wind, she was so at one with the song. He stared at her, unabashed, jaw hanging open, until Yami gently nudged him away. 

_You've seen girls before,_ said the spirit, with a touch of humor. 

_Not like that one,_ Yugi replied. 

Yugi didn't have a lot of money, but nevertheless, he fumbled in his pouch and found a few coppers. He took one out, stared at it a moment, and then took out another. He wished he could give more for the beautiful dancer - she deserved more, he thought - but it was all he could spare. He tossed the coins to her, and she whipped around and caught them both without missing a beat. Then she spun away again. Her movements were almost too quick to follow, but Yugi could have sworn she'd smiled straight at him. 

"Yugi!" Ryou called. "Yugi, what are you doing over here? I thought you were following me!" 

"I just wanted to watch the show for a minute," said Yugi. He waved his hand vaguely, in a way that could have indicated the dancing girl, a juggler, or three young men performing feats of acrobatics. 

Ryou looked sympathetic. "I want to see the show, too, but I thought we were trying to find a place to hide. Or at least trying to sneak out of town without being noticed. What are we going to do?" 

"I'm not entirely sure," said Yugi. "I haven't given it much thought. I guess we could split up here, if we want to." 

"Not really," Ryou said. "It's been such a long time since I've had someone like myself to talk to. I was hoping... we could stay together?" 

"Of course we can," said Yugi, smiling reassuringly. "I just don't know where I'm going, yet. How are you at living on the land?" 

"Not very. I've always lived in towns, and I usually traveled on the main road, with a traders' caravan if I could." 

"Hmm," said Yugi. He racked his brain for some way to get himself and a city-bred boy to safety, when he didn't even know where safety might be. "Let's at least get out of sight a little more, for the time being." 

They slipped cautiously through the crowd. Anyone watching the way they stared all around them would have thought they were eagerly taking in the sights - and they were, but they were also keeping their eyes peeled for any sign of monster hunters. At last, they reached the very edge of the camp, and found themselves standing behind two of the wagons. There was a jumble of trunks and crates piled up there, providing plenty of shadowy nooks for a pair of boys to hide. They ducked into this scanty shelter and sat down to rest and recover themselves after their adventures. It was lucky they did so, because a moment later, a pair of men dressed in the motley garb of the Wind People walked by. They seemed to be taking stock of their supplies. 

"Think we've got enough to last us a week or so?" one was asking. 

"I should say we have more than enough. I'm not looking forward to packing all this up again, and that's no lie," said one. 

"Don't complain. We all have to take our turn." 

"So, how many more days are we going to be here?" 

"Haven't you heard? The leader says he's got a new venue picked out. We're leaving tomorrow." 

"That early? I guess we had better get started." 

"Not yet. Word is we're to wait until the crowd breaks up a bit more. Wait an hour or two." 

"You're right. Well, let's see about making a few more coins, then!" 

The pair strolled off again in the direction of the festivities. 

"That was close!" Ryou whispered. 

"Maybe so," said Yugi, "but it also gave me an idea." 

"Oh?" 

"Well, I'm not very big," said Yugi, "and you're not exactly huge yourself. What if we were to crawl into some of these boxes? We could ride off with the Wind People, and no one would ever suspect. We can slip out again when they get wherever they're going, and we'll be gone without a trace." 

_Well thought,_ said Yami. _Not even a magician could follow us, if we leave no footprints._

Ryou's eyes lit up. "That would work! Let's find a place to hide." 

They made a search. Thankfully, much of the luggage the Wind People used appeared to have seen better days; the boxes and trunks were rickety, with plenty of air holes. Yugi found a trunk that appeared to be full of the finery worn by the dancers. It would be comfortably padded, and there was plenty of room for a small person to tuck himself neatly inside. Ryou secured himself in a box with some old shoes and other odds and ends. There, they waited out the night, until they finally dozed off. 

Some hours later, Yugi was wakened by a jolt, and was just barely able to restrain himself from crying out. From the sound of it, his trunk was being picked up (with the accompaniment of much grunting and swearing) by two men and tossed into the back of a wagon. He landed with a bump that made his teeth rattle and knocked his head against the side of the trunk hard enough to make him see stars, but he managed not to cry out. He could only hope that Ryou was getting gentler treatment than he was. There was no way to ask him, right now. For better or for worse, he was shut up in a trunk, piled amidst a heap of other luggage, and he was about to become the only outsider he knew of to ever travel with the elusive Wind People. 

**

To Be Continued

**


	3. Half Steps

**Half Steps**

**By: SilvorMoon**

Yugi spent much of the next few days sleeping, or trying to sleep, or drifting halfway between the two. He lost count of how much time he spent sealed up in that most confining prison he had chosen for himself. The Wind People seemed to be primarily nocturnal, doing most of their moving about starting in the evening, and would halt their progress once the sun began to get hot. During the daylight hours, they would sleep, and Yugi and Ryou could escape their confinements and move about a little. They ate but little, taking what they could from the communal stores, and occasionally refilling their waterskins. It was a blessing to have such things, for even at night, it grew uncomfortably warm when you were sealed up inside a trunk of clothing inside a stuffy wagon. Even during daylight hours, they spoke very little and very quietly. Yugi pitied Ryou; at least Yugi could pass the time talking to Yami, but Ryou had nothing to do at all. All three of them suffered from acute boredom and restlessness. 

It was no wonder that Yugi sought refuge in dreams. Often he dreamed of his home, and believed that he would wake up and find his grandfather waiting for him. Sometimes he dreamed his old dreams about discovering wonders hidden in the mountains where he wandered. Once, he had a very strange dream regarding the boy he had seen at Baron Kaiba's side. He had wondered who the boy was, at the time, but had been in no position to make inquiries. It was only natural that such unsolved riddles would plague him, now that he had nothing else to think about. In his dream, the boy was running as fast as he could, trying to get away from something. He ran and ran, but his pursuer was always gaining on him. At last, the boy was captured, and Yugi realized that the one chasing him was the thief Bakura, who snatched the golden circlet off the boy's head with a laugh of victory. He held it up with a gloating smile, and it melted and ran through his fingers until it turned into Yugi's pendant. 

"You bought it with blood, didn't you?" he sneered. "Bought it with blood!" 

Yugi tried to deny this, but on doing so, he woke up. Something was happening; the fact that he could see chinks of light through the sides of his trunk argued that it was daylight, but he could hear voices, such as he hadn't heard since he'd begun this strange journey. It occurred to him that the wagon he rode in was no longer moving, and a series of muffled bumps and scuffles and the occasional curse could only mean that someone out there was unpacking. 

_I wonder where we are now?_

_A town, of course,_ Yami told him. _They'll be stopping here to buy supplies, and perhaps to stay and perform a few days. I'll be able to tell you which town, once we get out._

Yugi nodded a little, wondering. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to get out of this trunk and slip out of the encampment without being noticed by someone. Once he was in town, he supposed it was possible that he could safely mingle with the locals and start looking for honest work, but he had a slight superstitious fear of the mythical Wind People, and didn't relish the idea of them learning they had stowaways. He didn't really know what their attitudes towards Halves were, either. 

_Don't be afraid,_ said Yami. _They are a good-hearted people. I doubt they'll hurt you, if you explain things to them._

_How long have you been dead?_ Yugi asked him. 

There was a thoughtful pause. _I'm not sure. I think it could have been as many as twenty years._

_Don't you think some things could have changed since then?_

_It's possible,_ Yami allowed. 

They didn't get any more time to discuss the issue, because at that moment, there was a great heaving and swaying, and Yugi realized he was being carried off to some unknown destination. He held his breath and tried not to cry out every time he felt his carriers shift their grips, and he prayed that whoever was moving him would have the grace not to drop him. There certainly were a number of complaints that the box was much heavier than it had any right to be. Luckily, nobody seemed inclined to take a look inside. At last, the journey ended, and Yugi found himself left in some mysterious, dim, quiet space. He waited a moment, trying to decide if it was safe. Curiosity overcame him at last, and he carefully worked the lid of his trunk loose and had a look around. 

He was inside a tent, but one that had been made comfortable with a few bits of furniture and heaps of pillows. The floor was made of tough canvas, thick enough to resist whatever rocks and sticks might have been lurking on the ground, and was further covered up by a colorful rug that appeared to be made of cast-off bits of cloth, woven and knotted together into an incongruent whole. A folding screen was set up on one side of the room, as well as a folding clothes rack. A pallet on the floor seemed to be all there was of a bed. Yugi was relieved to see that there were a few other boxes in the room with him, and one of them was the one he had last seen Ryou hiding in. 

"Ryou?" he called softly. "Are you still there?" 

"Just barely," came the reply. 

"I think it's safe to come out now. Everyone is busy moving things, still - they won't notice us, I don't think." 

He was proven wrong almost at once. A voice detached itself from the hubbub outside, coming progressively closer, until the flaps of the tent were thrown open. Yugi dropped the lid of his trunk; Ryou ducked back into his box. The owner of the voice didn't seem to notice. She was singing to herself, a few snatches of jumbled words interspersed with humming. Her singing voice was a bit uncertain - not terrible, but by no means exemplary; whatever she did to entertain her clients, it didn't have anything to do with her vocal skills. 

"Finally off the road again," she said to herself. "I hope we stay here a while. I get so bored with just looking out at miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles... Hm. I'd feel better if I could change out of these clothes." 

Much to Yugi's horror, he heard her footsteps coming his way. He held his breath, closed his eyes, and wished with all his heart that he might develop the magic to turn invisible. Even with his eyes closed, he sensed the change of light and felt the stir of air as the trunk's lid was opened. The next thing he heard was a yelp of surprise. 

"Ah, no, don't scream!" he begged futilely. "I don't mean any-" 

"Eek! Pervert! Stalker! Peeping Tom!" the girl yelped. 

"No, no, I'm not a pervert, I promise!" 

The girl wasn't listening to him. In fact, she seemed to be enjoying working herself into a case of righteous hysteria. She continued backing away from Yugi as if he were the most fearsome thing she had ever set eyes on, instead of a rather small-for-his-age and bedraggled looking boy who had just undergone several days of short rations, and continued shouting epithets at him. Things came to a head when she backed into her wardrobe and bumped the door open, causing Ryou to unceremoniously fall on her. That did, at least, render her quiet, but only because it ended up with his arm in her mouth. 

"Oh, dear," he said. "Er... so sorry about that." 

Yugi resignedly got out of the trunk, wincing at his stiff and aching limbs, and attempted to sort out the tangle. He was profoundly embarrassed, not only at being caught in this undignified situation, but also because the girl was the same pretty dancer he had been admiring the night he had started on this journey. She was now making furious but thus far ineffective attempts to remove Ryou's arm from her face, and making muffled sounds that would doubtless have been insulting if she could only sound them out properly. 

"Look, it's okay," said Yugi. "We're not stalkers or perverts or anything. We're just trying to keep the monster hunters from finding us. We didn't even know this was your tent, honest!" 

The girl's expression went from furious and a little frightened to something a bit less violent and more confused. Yugi, judging it was safe, peeled Ryou off the ground and helped him stand up; he appeared to be even more stiff and battered than Yugi felt, after his long journey in the wardrobe. The girl continued to eye them both suspiciously. 

"Monster hunters?" she repeated. "Why are you hiding from monster hunters? You don't look like monsters to me." She gave them an appraising look, taking in Yugi's diminutive stature and Ryou's innocent expression. "Actually, you don't look dangerous at all, now that I think about it." 

"Well, it's kind of a long story," said Yugi, and Yami chimed in, "Suffice to say, we aren't exactly what we seem to be." 

The girl backed off a little, slightly startled. 

"I'll bet," she said. "I think you two had better explain to me exactly what's going on. I have a right to know who's been sleeping in my furniture." 

The three Halves explained their predicament to her as best they could. Ryou described his flight from town to town, eternally pursued by his false reputation as a thief; Yugi told how he had met Yami, and how they were driven out of his village when it was revealed Yugi was a Half. All of them went on to explain how they had been captured by the Baron's monster hunters, and about the bounty placed on them by the Count. Yugi was relieved to see that the girl, rather than looking suspicious of their wild story, she looked indignant on their behalf. 

"That's insane!" she declared. "I knew the Count was going rotten, but this - ooh, this makes me mad! Hunting _people_ like they're animals - calling them _monsters_! I don't care if he _is_ nobility - if I could get my hands on the Count, I'd show him a thing or two! Him and the Baron both! They have no right to do this!" 

Yugi fought the urge to smile. It was a relief to see that she wasn't angry at him anymore, and it was nice to have an ally, even if it was just a dancing girl in a traveling show. _Just_ a dancing girl? She looked ready to carry out her threats right now - she was pacing the floor in her agitation, making angry gestures. Even now her movements were dancelike; Yugi half thought she might call down thunder and lightning from the sky to smite the people she was angry at, the way some people were said to be able to dance rain onto parched land. 

"I'm glad to hear you're on our side," said Ryou, echoing Yugi's thoughts. 

She twirled to face him. 

"You're right, I am!" she said. "How much do you know about us? The Wind People, I mean?" 

"Not much," Ryou admitted. "Only that you're performers, and you travel a lot." 

"Same here," said Yugi. 

"Oh, well, I'm not surprised," she said. She calmed a little as she shifted her attention to a more comfortable subject. "You two are lucky, then. You've come to the right place. Listen: the one thing Wind People are taught to value above all other things is _freedom_. We're taught to be ourselves, no matter what, and to do what we love, and to share that joy with other people. That's why we move around so much, because we can't bear to be rooted in one place. The idea of someone hunting down another human being - even a Half-human - just for being what he is, and then imprisoning and torturing and killing him, and paying money for the privilege... Ugh, it makes me sick! I didn't think even the Count was that bad. He just seems to get worse and worse." 

"You seem to know a lot about him," said Yugi. 

"A little," she replied. "I saw him once, when I was very young. It was a long time ago, but I still remember. It was the day of the Count's wedding - I guess I was about three years old." She frowned a little, trying to bring back the old memories. "We had been invited to perform for the Count and his Countess after the wedding. My mother was the best dancer among us, back then, and she was invited to perform for him specially, and they let me come and watch. I remember thinking how big and crowded everything was - I kept getting scared and crying for mama whenever I was left alone, otherwise I never could have gotten so close to a noble. I don't remember too well what he looked like, but I remember thinking at the time he was stupid, because the whole time my mother danced, he never looked at her. He never took his eyes off the Countess." She laughed a little. "Can you blame me? All little kids think their mothers are the most beautiful woman in the world, right? Looking back, though, I think the Countess must have been very beautiful." 

Yugi nodded. "But she died. I remember that. When I was about ten years old. We all had to do a bunch of things to show we were in mourning, and I didn't understand why I should mourn someone I'd never met and had barely even heard of." 

"Everyone had to do that," said the girl. "Even the Wind People were forced to wear black in our costumes and we've _never_ done that kind of thing before. Everyone knows you don't tell Wind People what to do, but the order was that we obey or be killed. We weren't about to all die off just because of a little black cloth." 

Ryou's eyes went wide. "He didn't really kill anyone, did he?" 

"No. We just didn't want to take the risk. He went... a little strange after his wife died. Some people say he went crazy. He shut himself up in his room for days at a time. There were even rumors..." She dropped her voice. "There were rumors he turned to dark magic." 

"Really?" asked Yugi, eyes wide. His grandfather had told him a little about what went into dark magic, just enough for him to know it was a terrible thing. White magic took a special gift; all it took to master dark magic was to not care who you hurt, as long as you got what you wanted. 

"That's what they say," she answered, shrugging. "I don't know that for sure, though. It's just a rumor. But I _do_ know he hasn't paid much attention to anything since she died. He doesn't manage his holdings anymore. He doesn't look after the people like he used to. They say he used to be a kind and wise ruler, but... not anymore. It's getting harder and harder to earn a living. There are more monsters now, and fewer hunters to kill them. And now the hunters are hunting people instead of monsters. I don't like it." 

"It does sound like dark magic," said Ryou. "Hunting people. Killing them. Do you think... do you think maybe he's trying to bring her back?" 

"I don't even want to think about it," said the girl. "Anyway, you're safe here. The Wind People won't let anybody be treated that way. We'll take care of you as long as you want to stay here - I'll make sure of that. Did I introduce myself, by the way? I'm Anzu." 

"I'm Yugi," he replied, and then added, "and Yami." 

"Ryou. Nice to meet you," said Ryou. 

Anzu grinned impishly. "Funny, I don't usually call falling on top of someone and getting screamed at 'nice'. But whatever makes you happy! Listen - you two stay here for a while, and lay low. I'm going to find my father and talk to him, and see what we can do for you two." 

"Thanks, Anzu. This means a lot to us," said Yugi. 

"What can I say? I'm nice to people," she said. She winked. "Especially people who tip. Bye!" 

She danced away. Yugi watched her dreamily. 

"She remembered me," he said. 

Ryou laughed a little. "Forget it. You'll never tie down a Wind Person." 

Yugi blushed and attempted to look innocent. He succeeded less by art and more because he looked that way naturally. 

_So, what do you think of all this, Yami? Yami? Are you listening?_

_I'm sorry, Yugi. I was thinking._

_About what?_

_About what we've learned. I'm thinking about this Count, and what his reasons are for the things he is doing._ Then he said abruptly, _I've brought danger on you, Yugi._

_What do you mean? This isn't your fault._

_I know, but, nevertheless, I've done it without intending to... Well, maybe it will come to nothing._

_You're not going to tell me, are you?_ Yugi accused. 

_If the Count is dabbling in dark magic... there are spells that could let him read your mind. You're safest not knowing all my secrets. I may tell you later, if I feel it has become important. But not yet. It could be that I'm wrong. If I'm not, I will tell you. I promise._

_All right, Yami, but I'm holding you to that!_

Yugi felt assent, and tried to be comforted by it. He was not sure he was. That was the thing about the two of them sharing the same body and mind: there was only so much they could hide from each other, and just now Yugi felt certain that whatever his other self said, he really didn't think his secret would amount to nothing.

* * *

Anzu returned a short while later, and she arrived with company. She was leading a lean and athletic man with salt-and-pepper hair, who proved to be her father. It seemed that Anzu had already told him most of what Yugi and his friends had told her, for he cross-examined them both as if he'd heard their stories firsthand. In the end, he seemed satisfied, for he nodded and assured them that he would do all in his power to keep them safe, at least until they came to a place where the wandering Halves could feel more secure. 

"Not that you won't be earning your keep," he said. "You'll be expected to do chores with the rest of us, and earn your gold as best you can. Do you have any skills that might be useful?" 

Yugi considered a moment; he had the feeling that this man wasn't talking about the usual household chores. 

"Well..." he said slowly, "I'm good at cards." 

Yami added, "And I have some skill with knives and swords that I can perhaps turn to entertainment purposes." 

"I have a knack for cards, too," said Ryou. "Not just playing with them, though. I have the gift of telling fortunes. People say I'm accurate, anyway." 

"Very good," said Anzu's father. "I'll see if I can find you some proper clothes to wear. You'll never pass as one of us dressed the way you are now." 

Yugi and Ryou looked down at their clothing. Yugi was wearing the plain homespun garments that everyone wore back in his home town, now slightly travel stained. Ryou's mode of dress was a bit more genteel, though shabby after his months of hardship. Neither of them looked anything like Wind People, who tended to include every color of the rainbow in their garments as a matter of course. 

"Some clothes would be nice," said Ryou a little wistfully, fingering a threadbare spot in his shirt. 

"There's bound to be something around here somewhere," Anzu assured him. 

There was indeed, and there were people willing to take in these strange wayfarers and make them part of the community. Without giving away too many details, Anzu and her family let it be known that Yugi and Ryou were being persecuted for crimes they hadn't committed, and had come to the Wind People to escape a dreary death in prison. Everyone in the Wind People could sympathize with that. 

_We might just be okay,_ Yugi thought. _I can't imagine these people letting anything bad happen to us..._

* * *

Nevertheless, something bad was coming. Somewhere off the beaten track, a pair of dusty and aggravated hunters was picking their way through the weeds. 

"Stupid thief!" Jonouchi railed. "If he had just waited a few more minutes...!" 

"We'd have taken the money and run," Honda finished, "and he wouldn't have gotten any loot, so it would have been pretty stupid of him to wait." 

Jonouchi gave his partner a sour look. "You know what I mean! Besides, he coulda gotten plenty if he'd kidnapped that kid. You saw the look on Kaiba's face - he'd have done anything for that brat. Instead, he has to go and escape, and we get blamed for leaving the door open!" 

"Well, we were the last ones to open it," said Honda, "and if he could have gotten out sooner, he probably would have." 

"You sayin' it was our fault?" 

"It would kind of look that way, to some people," Honda answered sheepishly. 

"Stupid thief," said Jonouchi again, with venom. He paused, thoughtfully. "Kinda strange, though. I don't remember him having a scar, the first time we saw him." 

"You're right. I don't remember one, either. But he did," said Honda. 

"Weird," said Jonouchi. "Whatever - I'm still mad at him! 'Cause of him, we've got to go tramping all over the countryside trying to find a couple of stupid Halves! Argh! I hate this job!" 

Honda sighed. "Me, too. Maybe we should go back to hunting real monsters. You know, drachies and orlochs and stuff. It doesn't pay as much, but..." 

"That's the trouble," Jonouchi muttered. "Gotta get the money fast, before something happens. We don't have time to waste on orlochs." 

Honda looked up at the darkening sky. "We might have to waste time on them, if we don't find shelter soon. It's getting dark." 

"Aw, what are you worried about? Nobody's seen a monster in this territory in ages. We'd have to go all the way back up to the mountains just to find some drachies or something." 

"I don't like drachies. They _bite_," Honda complained. Then he brightened. "Hey! Do you see what I see?" 

Jonouchi stared off into the distance. "Looks like somebody's having a party! Hey, we might just be in luck! I missed the Wind People, last time they were in town!" 

"Is now really the time to be goofing off?" 

"Hey, they get around! They might know something we don't," said Jonouchi. "Besides, those Wind People girls are awfully cute!" 

Honda rolled his eyes, but it looked like the decision was already out of his hands. Jonouchi had picked up his pace, heading in the direction of the firelight and music. 

Some minutes later, something came scuffling along in their tracks, following their scent...

* * *

By the time dusk had begun to fall and the local villagers had begun wandering into the camp, Yugi and Ryou were properly attired and had been given tasks to do. Ryou, draped in "mystic robes" with a variety of odd symbols on them (Yugi knew enough magic to know most of them were complete nonsense), had set up shop in a dramatically shadowed spot, illumined by the occasional glints of light from a nearby bonfire. He must have been telling the truth about his accuracy, because it wasn't long before word of mouth had summoned a fair sized crowd to consult with him. 

Yugi, on the other hand, had eventually agreed to let his partner take over the business dealings. Yami had been given a new dagger - freely given, not just loaned - of the kind the Wind People favored: long and slim, with a slightly curved tip, and a soft leather sheath to put it in. Once he had proven his skills with it to the satisfaction of the Wind People, he had been paired up with one of their number to fight mock-battles with, for the amusement of the spectators. Just now, he was squaring off with his "enemy", formulating the best way to strike. They sprang at each other almost at the same instant, clashed their weapons together with a great noise and a flurry of movement, and then leaped back again, circling each other once more. 

"You're pretty good!" said the young man Yami was fighting. He was a striking fellow, with intensely green eyes and a long black ponytail. 

"So are you," Yami answered, as they moved in for another series of stabs and parries. 

"Thanks," the young man said. "I haven't done this in a while. Dice are really my specialty." 

Ryou, in his dark corner, was just barely able to catch glimpses of his friend through the crowds. Despite the fact that he knew he was probably still in danger even here, he had to admit, he was enjoying himself. It was easy to forget his worries among these carefree people - easy even to forget that he wasn't really one of them. He had always wanted to be part of a group, any kind of group, as long as they approved of him, and he was doing so well here. Nobody seemed to think it was strange or unnatural that he could tell them their past, present, and future just from glancing at a stack of cards - that was the kind of thing people expected, around here. It would have been nice to think he could stay here forever. 

Those thoughts were broken as his previous customer left and a new one plopped down on the stool in front of him. The movement was accompanied by a jingling of metal: the man carried more than the usual amount of weaponry, and his face was all-too-familiar. 

"So, you can see the future, huh?" asked Jonouchi skeptically. 

_Uh-oh,_ Ryou thought. 

He hesitated a moment, gathering himself, and the monster hunter watched him urgently. There was no sign of recognition on his face; obviously the robe Ryou wore, plus the darkness he was ensconced in, was sufficient to disguise him. Just as a precaution, he dropped his voice a bit, and did his best to infuse it with some of the gruffness that came from old age. If he was lucky, he could use his light hair to his advantage and fool his enemy into thinking he was an old man, rather than the young one the hunters were seeking. 

"No, I do not see the future," he croaked, attempting to sound grim and dramatic, "but I can read the cards, and they see all. Take them and shuffle them, young man, so that they may feel your aura, and then I will read what they tell me of your fate." 

Jonouchi accepted the deck Ryou offered him and shuffled it a few times. Ryou took it back and began laying cards out in a pattern. 

_This could be useful,_ he realized. _Maybe the cards will tell me something about these hunters and their plans. Then Yugi and I can go wherever these two _aren't going! 

"First, your past," he said. "I see... hmm... humble beginnings. You carry good weapons and wear good clothes, but you were born poor, weren't you?" 

The hunter nodded, looking a bit surprised. 

_Well, that explains the money fixation. I suppose all poor people want to be rich someday._

"Let's see, what else do we have here... I see unhappiness in your past. There is a sign of illness here, but not your own. Someone you love dearly." 

He was gratified to see that the hunter had gone pale. 

"I know my own past," he said brusquely. "Tell me something else!" 

"All right. Your present, then. Ahh, this is very clear. The cards indicate... hmm, interesting. There is a strong pattern of guilt and reluctance. You feel you are trapped into doing something you do not wish to do, and you seek a means to be free of it." 

Jonouchi laughed weakly. "You're right about that. Hey, you're pretty good, old-timer! So, what do you see in my future, huh? Is there a way out of this? Come on, spill!" 

"Patience, young whippersnapper!" said Ryou, trying not to laugh at being called "old- timer". "When you get as old as me, you'll learn to be patient! Hmm, the future... I see... Ah! This isn't good. This is a sign of impending danger! Something deadly is about to catch up to you!" 

"Me?" said Jonouchi, going white again. "Are you sure it's me? It's not someone else?" 

Ryou felt a twinge of uneasiness; he got the distinct impression that Jonouchi was more frightened of someone else being in danger than for himself. 

_I wonder what the danger is?_ Ryou mused. _Could it be... that thief, Bakura? Is he still following us? No, he wouldn't be targeting this guy. It would be me he's following. I wonder if I'll ever see him again..._

Even as he was thinking this, there came a distant scream. The scream became several, and grew rapidly into a whole cacophony of terrified wails. Over that came the sound of unearthly baying. Fortune-telling forgotten, Jonouchi leaped to his feet and stared around wildly. 

"Drachies?" he exclaimed. "Dammit, there aren't supposed to be drachies here!" 

"What's a drachie?" asked Ryou, momentarily shocked out of his mystic role. 

Jonouchi rolled his eyes. "You know, drachies! Horns, claws, needle-sharp fangs, feed on human blood? Drachies!" 

The speech was punctuated by a drawn-out wail of terror from somewhere much too close by, which was abruptly cut short. 

"_Shit,_" said Jonouchi feelingly, and ran off to find the source of the noise. 

He didn't have far to go. A pack of seven sinuous, wolf-like creatures, lean to the point of looking emaciated, had infiltrated the camp and were making their way steadily inward, toward the very center of activity, driven nearly wild by the scent of so many people in one place. They snapped at everything they passed, occasionally taking a lunge at a frightened person as they ran by. Here one seized a boy by the leg and bit down, piercing him to the bone, and stayed there until his father beat him off with a cudgel; there one sprang at a woman and just barely missed her, teeth closing on the hem of her dress and ripping it away. The woman who had screamed a moment ago was not so lucky. She had died before she knew what hit her. The townspeople were already fleeing for the walled safety of their village, but the Wind People stayed and defended themselves as best they could. Unfortunately, they had few weapons, and the increasingly heavy smell of blood made the drachies all the more wild. 

"We have to get out of here!" That was Ryou, running and trying to pull Yugi away. 

"No," said Yugi. "These people are protecting us; we should protect them. Right, Yami?" 

There was a split-second pause as Yami debated between protecting his charges and defending his protectors. 

"Yes, we fight," he said aloud. "Drachies took my first life. I will not leave anyone to that fate." 

So saying, he shifted his grip on his knife and dove into the fray. 

It was plain his help was needed. The Wind People were peaceful by nature, and few even owned weapons, much less had they mastered them. Most of the fighting was being done by the two monster hunters, Jonouchi and Honda. One of them had poured some kind of strange liquid on the ground, which gave off a purplish haze; it seemed the drachies were drawn to its scent, and kept trying to get closer to it. The two hunters were surrounded on all sides, hacking and chopping viciously. The drachies were nimble, though, and dodged almost too fast for the eye to follow. Both hunters had bleeding wounds from the drachies' claws. 

Yami swooped in on the monsters and stabbed one of them in the spine before it had time to realize someone had snuck up on it; it fell over dead with its eyes still open. Honda and Jonouchi looked around to see what had happened. Yami met them with a cool stare. 

"You! What are you doing here?" Honda exclaimed. 

Yami slashed again with his knife, and a drachie backed away with its claw severed. "Helping you do your job, obviously." 

The hunters saw the sense in that at once - one did not turn down help with getting rid of drachies, no matter where that help might have come from. The three of them were able to deal with the monsters, not without incurring some minor injuries. In the end, the grass was littered with bits of dead drachie, and the three warriors stood panting in the middle of it. 

"Whoosh!" said Jonouchi. "That was some dustup!" 

"You ain't kidding," Honda replied. "Is it just me, or do those things just get uglier every time I look at them?" 

"They are hardly my favorite creatures in the world," said Yami dryly. He looked around for something to clean his knife. 

Jonouchi looked at him as if seeing him for the first time. "Geez, you must be crazy! Either that, or you've got a really bad memory." 

"What do you mean? I remember what drachies are like well enough. If I didn't, I couldn't fight them." 

"I mean, helping us! We're the guys who put you in prison, remember? Beat you up and forked you over to the Baron for no good reason? That's us. What the hell are you doing, bailing us out like that?" 

"It took the three of us together to kill the drachies. No one else stood a chance. I could not have done it alone - I know that from experience. If I had let you die, there would have been no one to defend the Wind People, and that would be a poor way to repay their hospitality. They have been kind to me, and to my friends," said Yami. "Besides, to be eaten by drachies is a horrible fate. I would not wish it on anyone, even an enemy. I certainly don't feel you two are deserving of such an end." 

"Eh, well," said Jonouchi. "Maybe you're right, and maybe you ain't... but thanks. I owe you one." 

"Yeah, me too," said Honda. "Hey, you know, you're a pretty awesome fighter. I've never seen anything like it!" 

Yami bowed his head in acceptance of the compliment. As he did so, Ryou came running up. 

"Yugi! Or Yami, or whichever you are! Are you okay?" he asked. 

"A few scratches, is all." 

"You're bleeding. All three of you," said Ryou. He began pulling apart his multicolored robe and trying to bind their wounds. 

"Hey, you're not some old guy, after all!" Jonouchi exclaimed. "Geez, what's the matter with you two? If I were you, I wouldn't want to get within a mile of me. I think. Did that come out right?" 

"I think you all need to sit down," said Ryou. 

"I could use a breather," Honda admitted. 

They found a place to sit that was relatively out of the way. A great number of people were running to and fro, trying to work out where their family and friends had gone, and whether everyone was all right. 

"You were right after all," said Jonouchi to Ryou. "There really was something dangerous following us. Damn! I'm a monster hunter! I'm supposed to know better than to leave a trail like that!" 

"But you said you didn't know," said Ryou. "I heard you say it - there aren't supposed to be drachies here." 

"That's right," said Yami thoughtfully. "Drachies are mostly mountain creatures. I've never heard of them coming down to the flatlands. It's just as Anzu said. This land is becoming corrupt." 

"Yeah, that sounds right," said Honda bitterly. "You know there's something wrong when the only way a guy can make a decent living is to hunt for other people! I don't care what anybody says - a monster wouldn't come back to help someone who'd hurt him, or patch him up after the fight." 

"That's it! That completely does it!" said Jonouchi. "I have had enough of this job! I quit! So take that, Baron!" He spat on the ground. Then he turned back to Yami. "I guess I owe you an apology. Sorry about all that stuff about the prison and all. It was nothing personal." 

"We heard you say you needed the money," said Ryou. 

"Yeah," said Honda, a bit wistfully. "Guess we're just going to have to get it some other way, now." 

"Do you mind if we ask why?" That was Yugi, putting his word in. The other two hunters looked startled to see a new voice come out of a familiar face. 

"What are you?" Jonouchi asked. "You're not... _possessed_ or something, are you?" 

"Not possessed," said Yugi. "We're sharing. Yami and me, I mean. He's my other Half." 

"Oh," said Jonouchi vaguely. "I guess that explains it. I mean, if there's one Half, there's gotta be another Half somewhere, I guess." 

"My father used to talk about that," said Ryou. "He said that every Half had another Half, but they aren't always born in the same time or the same place, so most of the time, they never meet. When they do, strange things can happen. Magical things." 

"Fun," said Jonouchi vaguely. "Anyway, since you asked and all... Well, see, it's like this. I've got a sister back in my home town. Her name's Shizuka. She's the greatest kid in the world, you know? But she's been sick for a while, now, and nothing seems to help. We heard there's a healer who can make her better, but he charges a king's ransom, and, well, we don't have that kind of money. I'm the only one in the family fit to work, so it's up to me to get enough saved up somehow to pay the healer bills." 

"My story's not so touching," said Honda. "It's just, well..." 

"Aw, c'mon, buddy. If I can tell, you can tell." 

"Oh, okay. I'm in love." 

"That doesn't usually cost money," said Ryou delicately, when Honda didn't seem inclined to explain any further. 

"You've never been in love before, have you?" Honda shot back. "Not a girl like Miho, anyway. There's nobody like her anywhere! She's got this hair like satin, and eyes you could get lost in forever..." He stared off into space dreamily until Jonouchi prodded him, and he coughed and went on. "Trouble is, her parents are wealthy - not noble, just rich. They're merchants. I'm just a hunter. It's an honest job, but they want their daughter to marry someone who can support her the way she lives now. Can't blame them for that, I guess. I've got to find some way to make some money, fast, before someone else makes a proposal to her. They'll _make_ her get married, if a noble asks for her, and she's so beautiful, you know someone will eventually. I have to prove I'm good enough for her!" 

"Does that mean you're still going to take us back to the Baron?" asked Ryou nervously. 

"What? No way!" said Jonouchi. "There's no way I'll turn in someone who saved my life. I mean, I can't save Shizuka if I'm eaten by drachies, can I? And he can't marry Miho, either," he added, giving Honda another prod, just to make sure he didn't get any ideas. "From now on, we're comrades in arms! Where you go, I go!" He crossed his arms and looked noble as he could. 

"What about me?" asked Ryou. "I helped, too. You're being saved wouldn't have done you any good if you'd bled to death from not being bandaged, now, would it? And I did give you advance warning." 

"All right, all right! Both of you are my friends, then," said Jonouchi. 

"Same here," said Honda. "We'll just have to find some other way to..." 

A distant voice cut in: "Yugi! Yami! Ryou! Where are you? Are you all right?" 

"Over here, Anzu!" Yugi called back. 

Anzu came rushing over. There was blood on her clothes, but none of it seemed to be hers. 

"Oh, thank goodness," she said. "I was getting worried about you two! ... Three. How many do you count as? Well, it doesn't matter. When I didn't see you, I got worried. We're getting everyone cleaned and bandaged as best we can. So far, we've only found two people dead, both villagers, not that that makes it any better. Who are these two?" 

"This is Jonouchi and Honda," said Yugi, making introductions. "They're our friends." 

Anzu blinked. "Aren't those the names of the monster hunters who were out to get you?" 

"That too," said Ryou casually. "They seem to have had a change of heart." 

"I see," Anzu said slowly. 

"Anzu, these two fought off the drachies, with Yami's help," said Yugi. "Your people probably owe them a lot of lives. I think we can trust them." 

"You better believe you can!" said Jonouchi. "I'm as trustworthy as they come!" 

"Yeah, sure," said Honda. It was hard to tell if he was being sarcastic or not. 

"Anyway, they seem to want to stick with us for a while," said Yugi. "Can they?" 

"I don't know. This is getting a little out of my depth," she said. "I'll have to talk to the clan leader about this one." 

"It's no problem. I don't feel like moving much right now, anyway," said Honda. 

The clan leader was produced: a thoughtful-looking man with a craggy face. He looked over the two monster hunters, stroking his chin and frowning a bit. 

"You two are hunters?" he said at last. 

Jonouchi and Honda nodded the affirmative. 

"The three of us are," said Yami. "There are those who would say I'm the best in the business." 

"Hmm," said the chief, looking doubtfully at Yugi's unprepossessing frame. 

"Believe him," said Jonouchi. "He killed his share of those drachies. We couldn't have done it without him." 

"Well, that being the case... There have been more monsters than usual on the roads, lately. What happened here tonight concerns me deeply. If you three hadn't chanced to come here, many of our people might have died. We use our weapons mainly for show; there are very few of us who know how to use them defensively. We could use your help. If you would consent to be hired as guards, I'm sure we would all be very grateful. We'd pay you, of course." 

"You got yourself a deal!" said Jonouchi. He remembered what he'd just been talking about and added, "If it's okay with my buddies, I mean." 

"It's fine with me!" said Honda. 

"Well, I don't know if my opinion counts," said Ryou, "but I'd love to stay a while. Yugi? Yami? What do you think of this?" 

Yugi was slightly distracted. Anzu was making frantic faces and gestures at him, giving him the distinct impression that she wanted him to come talk to her. He wasn't sure what she was doing, but it obviously was important to her. Nevertheless, he felt it would be rude to walk away from the chief without answering his question. 

"It's fine by me," he said. "After all you've done to help us, I couldn't possibly not want to help you in some way." 

The chief beamed. "Wonderful! When we leave tomorrow, I'll make sure there's a place reserved for you all." 

With polite goodbyes, the chief walked off to tend to his injured clansmen. As soon as he was gone, Anzu stormed up to Yugi with fire in her eye. 

"Why didn't you listen to me?" she demanded. 

"I thought it would be rude to walk away from the chief!" Yugi replied. 

Anzu sighed. "I know it would have been rude. Did you think I'd ask you to do something like that if it wasn't important?" 

"Umm..." 

"Hey, what's the problem?" asked Jonouchi. "Don't you want us around?" 

"Yeah, but not like this!" said Anzu. "Yugi, do you realize what you've just committed yourself to?" 

"Helping the caravan," Yugi replied. "The chief is right - you guys do need someone to help protect you. It'll be all right - I know I don't look like much, but Yami's really good at this kind of thing, really! You don't have to worry about us!" 

Anzu rolled her eyes. "Maybe from monsters, you're safe, but what about people?" 

"What do you mean?" asked Yugi. "Jonouchi and Honda are on our side now!" 

"Oh, you're in for a lot more trouble than that," said Anzu, her voice shaking. "You just agreed to guard our caravan all the way to its next stop... in the Count's home city." 

**To Be Continued...**


	4. Half Understood

**Half Understood**

**By: SilvorMoon**

The boy sat by the window and stared out at the world. Mokuba had a reputation for being quiet, these days - ever since his father died, in fact. Most people blamed it on emotional scars from losing both his parents so young, and shook their heads sadly as he trotted in his brother's wake, watching all and saying nothing. Some people even went so far as to insinuate that his brother the Baron might be mistreating him, but those who were in a position to know quickly put a stop to that rumor. It was true that Baron Kaiba prized his brother above all else, and protected him better than he protected his own treasury. Even now, two armed guards stood on either side of him, watching him as if gazing out a window was something very hazardous. Mokuba paid no attention to them. He was watching a distant white speck in the sky that was drawing ever closer.

A few minutes later, a white pigeon fluttered down out of the sky and perched on the windowsill, cooing softly to itself. Mokuba picked it up, and it rested calmly in his hands. There was a bit of paper tied to its leg. The boy untied it, read it over, and frowned.

"Big Brother isn't going to like this," he muttered.

With that slightly ominous announcement, he rose from his window seat and began walking briskly down the hallway to seek that higher authority. He found his brother hiding in his room, poring over tax records. The Baron looked up as he heard the door open.

"Mokuba," he greeted. "Is something wrong?"

Instead of replying, Mokuba handed him the scrap of paper. The Baron squinted irritably at the writing; not only was it very small, in the interest of fitting the entire message onto the tiny bit of paper, but it was also not the kind of news he wanted to hear.

"Those _traitors_!" he snarled. He crumpled the paper up and threw it into his fireplace; it burst into flames and was gone in the time it took to draw a breath. "They think they can just walk out on me, do they?"

"I don't think they were very happy," said Mokuba.

"They weren't here to be happy - they were here to do a job!" his brother snapped. Kaiba got up and began to pace. "The nerve of them! Complaining that the job isn't worth the money... Just because that stupid thief stole their payment, they think they have the right to-"

He broke off suddenly, looking thoughtful. Then, somewhat to Mokuba's displeasure, he began to laugh.

"Oh, that's very funny," said Kaiba coolly. "That's very, very funny. It's funny that they think they can get away with something so simple."

"What do they think they're getting away with?" asked Mokuba hesitantly.

"Look. See how it all falls out. Here we have that Half, Ryou - an acknowledged thief, even if no one has ever been able to pin a crime on him. Obviously he's had some accomplices along the way to help him stay out of trouble. Then we have that Yugi, who just happens to walk straight into their hands the moment I send my hunters out to find him. Both of those are locked in a cell. Who put them there? My monster hunters, that's who. Then, as soon as I'm ready to hand over their payment, the thief gets out of his cell and makes off with it. Who let him out? The only people with keys to that cell are me, my guards, and those hunters. When did he get out? Just minutes after I send them down there to lock up the new prisoner! And as soon as I send them out to capture him again, they send me a notice saying they don't want the job anymore. When I hired them, they were desperate for money, and now they suddenly don't need it anymore. Doesn't that strike you as just a little suspicious?"

Mokuba's eyes were wide. "You mean you think they set this up from the beginning?"

"That's exactly what I think. It's all timed too conveniently," Kaiba replied. "Well, they may be fooling some people with this little charade, but they won't fool me. Hmm..." He stared thoughtfully into the fire.

"I still need something to send to the Count," he said irritably. "He'll notice if I change my habits now, and the last thing I want is to start attracting attention, but it will take more time to hire new hunters and find more Halves than I can afford... Hmm..."

"What are you going to do?" Mokuba asked him.

"Don't worry. I'll think of something," Kaiba replied. "In fact... I think it's time I paid a little visit to the Count myself."

"You... you are?" asked Mokuba, suddenly going pale.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to. Trust me, I feel the same way about meeting that demon face to face. But if I can put him on the trail of these criminals, it might keep him on a wild goose chase long enough that we can think of something else."

"It's getting harder to keep him happy. There aren't that many Halves in our borders," Mokuba observed.

"We'll raid other people's borders if we have to. We'll leave the kingdom if we have to! Anything to keep _him_ away from us. But for now we just need to think about appeasing him for the time being. On the more positive side, once the Count finds out about these rebellious hunters of mine, I think it's safe to say they'll never work anywhere ever again."

* * *

Yugi was forced to admit that traveling with the Wind People was much easier and more pleasant when he didn't have to do it inside of a trunk. He actually had a comfortable perch, now, with a seat on one of the wagons that led the procession. Jonouchi and Honda shared the wagon, and the three of them took turns watching the countryside for anything suspicious. Yugi had already known beyond a shadow of a doubt that his other Half was a master of his trade, but it became evident that Jonouchi and Honda knew what they were doing, as well. It was Honda who first spotted the tell-tale signs of orlochs in the area, narrowly saving the procession from rolling right into the middle of a camp of semi-human brutes. Yugi had never seen an orloch up close before then. He still hadn't, but he had gone with the other two hunters when they went to scout out the camp, and was glad that he hadn't come any closer. The last thing he wanted to do was end his adventure by being pounded into the earth by the club of an orloch. Later in the week, they had spied a deer carcass, picked nearly clean, and the three hunters agreed that it looked like the work of a lone skriek, a variety of enormous predatory bird that wasn't picky about its prey.

Ryou also rode with them - not because he was any use as a hunter, but because he was good company, and he wasn't needed anywhere else. He even made himself useful, from time to time, by reading his cards for glimpses of the future, warning his companions of impending bad weather. Anzu had to ride with her family, but she would visit them when the caravan stopped to rest. The group shared songs and stories as they rode, or simply relaxed in comfortable silence. They never seemed to grow bored of each other's company. Sometimes Yugi felt it had always been this way: him and his friends, riding an endless road to a destination he didn't care if he'd ever reach.

Not everyone shared his feelings.

"If it weren't for you guys," said Jonouchi, "I'd say I was looking forward to getting to the city." It was a hot, sunny afternoon, and the road seemed to be dustier than usual. "I bet there's lots of jobs for trained fighters in a big city like that. Hey, wouldn't it be somethin' if we could all get hired together?"

Ryou smiled, a bit wryly. "I don't think it's likely that I'll be hired as a fighter."

"Don't worry about it," said Honda. "It's not like we'd abandon you. What is it you do when you're not hanging out with us?"

"Oh, a little of this, a little of that," said Ryou modestly. "Actually, I used to be a cook."

"Really? You didn't mention that!" Jonouchi exclaimed.

Ryou nodded. "I worked for a rich merchant for a time, until his daughter took a more than casual interest in me. I thought it was safest to take myself elsewhere." He blushed lightly, and Jonouchi and Honda guffawed.

"Too cute for your own good, huh?" asked Honda. "Wish I had that problem."

"Well, there's the answer, then," said Jonouchi. "We'll all join a trade caravan. Honda and Yugi and I'll be guards, and you can join on as a cook. Easy!"

"I suppose," said Ryou doubtfully.

"What's wrong, Ryou? You don't look happy," Yugi observed.

"Oh, it's all right," Ryou replied. "It's just that what I'd really like to do is, well... but you'll laugh at me."

His friends confidently assured him that they would not laugh. Ryou took a breath.

"I've never really told anyone," he said, "but what I really want is be a magician. Not the kind you see around here, that just do tricks. A real one - like your grandfather, Yugi."

"Well, then, why don't you become one?" Honda asked.

Yugi frowned a little. "I don't know. You have to have a knack for magic. I mean, if it was just about lessons, I could have learned it from Grandpa, but I never could get it to work."

"All Halves can do magic, to some extent," Yami cut in, and Jonouchi and Honda jumped. Yami seldom spoke unless he had something useful to say, and his friends still weren't completely used to him appearing unexpectedly. "Your talents lie in other directions, Yugi. I've watched you. Your knack is for games. I suspected it earlier, but I have confirmed it watching you play among the Wind People. Haven't you noticed that when you play a game of chance, even if it is entirely new to you, luck always falls out in your favor?"

"But I lose against you, sometimes," Yugi protested.

"Yes, but I am a part of you. You can't lose against yourself. Luck works normally between the two of us, but against anyone else..."

"So Ryou might have real magic?" asked Honda, interested.

"I think it most likely," Yami replied. "Only someone with true talent could read the future as accurately as Ryou does."

"I'm glad to hear you say that," said Ryou. "I really did try to learn. I hired a teacher and everything - practically spent all the money I had - but it never amounted to anything. Everything I did came out wrong. The teacher said I was doing everything the way I'm supposed to, but, well... he said a lot of things I didn't understand, about a diffused magical field, or something. Whatever that means. I wondered if it's because I'm a Half, but I was afraid to ask for certain."

"There are kinds of magic that only Halves can do," said Yami thoughtfully. "I learned some of it, while I was alive, but most of it was protective magic, to keep myself from being too badly damaged when I was attacked by monsters. You can see how successful that was, so perhaps I did not master it as well as I thought."

"I'll bet _he_ knows it," said Ryou.

"Who?" Jonouchi asked.

"That thief. Bakura," Ryou replied. "He did magic - I saw him! He just waved his hand and disappeared! That's real magic." He sighed a little. "I bet he could teach me how. I wonder if I'll ever see him again?"

"He said he'd be back," said Yugi doubtfully. He wasn't sure he wanted to meet the thief again. Just because he'd helped them once didn't mean he was trustworthy. In fact, as he had come out and admitted his motives were entirely selfish, Yugi rather doubted that Bakura was likely to start helping Ryou to do anything, unless there was something in it for him.

"Why don't you ask your cards?" Honda asked.

Ryou looked sheepish. "They're usually pretty vague when I ask them about myself. I can try, though. It might not tell me what I want to know, but it might tell me something."

He took out his deck and cleared a space to work on top of a nearby packing crate. Everyone who wasn't involved with piloting the wagon leaned closer to get a better look, as Ryou began laying out the pattern of cards and turning them over one by one. Yugi in particular always enjoyed watching these readings; they reminded him of home. He was only half paying attention, instead giving his attention to daydreaming about what his grandfather was doing now, and whether or not he knew Yugi was all right, when he realized that Ryou was frowning.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I can't tell," Ryou complained. "I told you they're not clear when I ask about myself. It's saying something about somebody being in disguise, but it won't say who. It's very annoying."

"I'll bet that's your thief," commented Jonouchi. "Thieves always have to wear disguises, right?"

"Maybe," Ryou said doubtfully.

A whistle echoed through the air; the leader was giving the signal that they were to stop traveling and rest for the day. The wagons began rolling to a halt. Yugi yawned. The shift from his usual daylight-oriented schedule to the more nocturnal habits of the Wind People was still not fully ingrained in him, and he was more than ready to get some sleep by now.

"Time to hit the hay! Finally!" said Jonouchi. He hadn't been having any problems, when it came to sleeping or not sleeping, as far as Yugi could tell. Both hunters seemed to have developed the trick of falling asleep anywhere, at any time.

At least sleeping in a box was no longer necessary; there were hammocks cleverly placed both inside and outside the wagons, depending on how large a family they were meant to hold. Yugi preferred his outside, when the weather was clear, so he could look at the stars before he drifted off. He was just setting up his bed for the night when Anzu came by.

"Oh, hello!" he said. He missed the hook he was trying to hang his hammock from and ended up dropping it on the ground. "Oops!"

"Here, I'll get that," said Anzu. She caught the loose end and hooked it deftly in place. "There you go! I've been handling these things ever since I could walk. These days I practically go to sleep first and hook them up afterwards."

"Heh. I guess I haven't gotten the hang of it yet," said Yugi, a little distractedly. Even when she wasn't dancing, her movements were quick and graceful. He still hadn't lost his fascination with watching her.

"I guess you won't have to worry about it for much longer," said Anzu. "Tomorrow you'll probably be sleeping in a real bed, right?"

Yugi boggled. "Er... what?"

"Tomorrow," Anzu repeated. "When we reach the city."

Yugi squeaked. "We're getting there tomorrow? But it seems too soon."

"I know what you mean," said Anzu, a little sadly. "I'll kind of miss having you guys around when you leave. It's definitely made for an interesting trip. Have you made any plans for what to do next?"

"We've talked about it. Jonouchi and Honda are all for us finding the first trade caravan heading out of the city and signing up as guards. I don't know how well that will work, but I know we can't stay here and wait for the Count to find out about us."

"Ah. I was kind of hoping you might stay with us a while longer. I mean, nobody can tell you're a Half just by looking at you. You're bound to be safe just for a week or two, right?"

In response, Yugi rolled up one sleeve, showing the mark where the drachies had bitten him. It still hadn't completely healed; it had an unusual pearly pink glimmer to it that sparkled even in the dim light.

"I don't think anybody can mistake what that means," he replied. "Even if I keep the scabs covered up, all it would take is for me to slip and skin my elbow or cut my finger, and that will be it for me. I can't take the risk. I have to get as far away from the Count as I can - maybe out of the kingdom entirely."

"It's not fair!" said Anzu angrily. "Just because you're different, they think they can hunt you down and do whatever they want with you! It's like you're an animal, or one of those drachies. You and Ryou are some of the gentlest people I've ever met. Why doesn't someone put a bounty on those monsters, instead of letting them run wild like this, and leave you alone?"

"I'm an easier target," said Yugi.

Anzu scowled. "That shouldn't have anything to do with it. I wish someone would hunt that Count down and do a few things to him, and see how he likes it."

Yugi didn't say anything. He kept his gaze fixed on the distance, still vaguely contemplating what might lie beyond the kingdom's borders, and whether there was anywhere a Half might be safe. A glint of light caught his eye.

"Look," he said. "A shooting star!"

"Really?" Anzu looked up. "It is! And I just wasted it wishing ill on people. You make a wish, Yugi. Maybe it'll come true!"

Yugi nodded and closed his eyes. A moment later, he opened them again.

"All right, I did," he said.

"What did you wish for?" she asked, curious.

"Well, back in my village, I was always alone," said Yugi slowly. "I was always wishing I had friends to keep me company. Now I've got Yami and Ryou and Jonouchi and Honda, and you too. I was just wishing that somehow, well... not exactly that we'd stay together, because I know you have to go with your people, and Jonouchi and Honda have to work, and Ryou and I have no idea where we're going to end up, but... I wished not to lose you all. That someday, we'll all find each other again."

Anzu smiled a little and ruffled his hair. "You're sweet, you know that? It's hard to believe you're half a hunter. Well, sleep well, Yugi."

"You too, Anzu," Yugi replied.

He settled down into his hammock and closed his eyes. In a little while, the sun would come up, and he preferred to fall asleep before it got bright out.

_Did you make a wish too, Yami?_ he asked his other self.

_I don't need to,_ he replied. _I saw many such stars while I was waiting in the mountains, and my wish was always to be found by someone I could talk to. That wish was granted. All I want now is to keep you safe._

_I'm sure you will,_ Yugi replied. _I would be a whole lot more afraid to do this if you weren't with me._

_Just remember, as much as I'd like to, I can't defend you from everything,_ Yami replied. He was thoughtful a moment. _Yugi, have you taken a close look at my pendant? Do you see how it's made?_

Yugi opened his eyes and took the pendant in his hands, turning it over carefully. Glints of pale morning light played over it.

_It's all made up of pieces,_ he thought. _Like a puzzle._

_Yes. Listen to me, Yugi. Inside this puzzle is a glass bottle. If everything goes wrong and you're certain there is no way out, take the puzzle apart and break the glass inside. It won't save you, but..._

_What will it do?_

_It will set me free. Otherwise, my soul will be bound to this amulet forever. Do you understand, Yugi? If the worst happens and you die, I don't want to be left behind._

_I understand,_ said Yugi. I'll do as you say.

_Thank you._

Yugi made himself comfortable in his hammock, reflecting to himself that tomorrow he might bed down on a real bed, and not just a mesh of ropes suspended from the side of a wagon. He couldn't help but think he was more comfortable where he was.

* * *

Baron Kaiba had gotten a bit of a late start, but he could still cover ground more quickly than the Wind People could. They were encumbered by their wagons, and had to make regular stops. Traveling alone, he could cover the distance at the speed that a strong, fast horse could gallop - or more than one horse, since he had the wealth to stop along the way and exchange his tired animal for a fresh one. He was limited only by his endurance, and there were no lengths he would not go to in achieving his goals. He had proven that once already to the man who had been Baron before him; he would prove it again to the Count someday. Someday he would make the man regret that he'd ever chosen to cross swords with Baron Kaiba!

_Cross swords! I only wish he would,_ Kaiba thought, as he handed over his horse's reins to one of the Count's stablemen. _I would carve him to pieces, and that would be the end of all this! He's more a scholar than a fighter; I would have him at my mercy in no time._

But he couldn't do that, not without some reason that would justify challenging him to a fight that way, even assuming the coward would accept his challenge. If he started killing people in public, the King would have to get involved, and he was hoping to avoid that kind of nonsense. As usual, Kaiba was going to have to rely on himself if he wanted to get anything done. He announced himself to one of the Count's servants, and within a few minutes, he was being escorted to the great man's study.

Kaiba had been there before, and knew what to expect, but his keen eyes swept the room anyway. There was no telling when he might light on something significant; it was not beneath the Count to have a trap laid for him. Kaiba was convinced that _nothing_ was beneath the Count. Not that you could tell by looking at him: outwardly, the Count was every inch the handsome, graceful nobleman that poor girls told each other stories about marrying someday. Only his eyes and the way he smiled showed that there was nothing sane behind that cultivated facade.

"Well, well," he said. "I am pleasantly surprised to see you here. I wasn't expecting you to turn up for another fortnight, at least, Baron Kaiba."

"There's been a slight change of plans, Count Pegasus," Kaiba replied.

If this news bothered the Count, he didn't show it. He wasn't even looking at Kaiba particularly; he was toying with a wineglass and gazing idly off into space. It wasn't the first time Kaiba had taken note of the Count's taste for red wine, and now he found himself wondering if he might not use that weakness to do for him what he'd done for the former Baron. Tempting as it was, he decided not to risk it. No use setting a pattern that might be traceable back to him.

"Is that so?" the Count answered mildly. "In what way?"

"Someone has conspired to steal what is rightfully yours."

"Let me guess - you let them get away with it. Really! Did you come all this way to complain to me that you are incapable of doing your job?"

Kaiba tried not to let his frustration show. "I did my job just the way I always did. It isn't my fault I was taken advantage of. They laid it out so neatly, I never suspected anything until it was too late. It turns out the very hunters I hired to deal with those pests you're so concerned about were in league with them all along."

"You're entirely too trusting," said Pegasus. "I would have expected you to be a bit more suspicious. After all, we know all too well that one can find enemies very close to us... even in our own homes. Even in our own families."

"Is it really necessary to go over that again?" asked Kaiba tiredly.

"It is, because you seem to have forgotten. You know what I can do to you if you make an enemy of me, Kaiba. You want me to be happy with you. I am not happy with you today. We don't really want any unfortunate information about you to leak out, do we?"

Kaiba glared. "Come out and say it, and stop trying to sound clever. We both know that if I don't give you what you want, you'll tell everyone I killed my father. Isn't that right?"

"Listen to you! One would think you weren't properly ashamed of yourself."

"I'm not. He was never really my father, and he needed killing. I'm just smart enough to know the rest of the world doesn't see it that way, and the King won't like me for ascending to my position a little early. Just because the secret can ruin me doesn't mean I'm ashamed of it."

"Well, I suppose I should expect that kind of attitude from a cold-blooded killer," said Pegasus mildly.

"Look who's talking. I may not know what you do with those Halves I bring you, but I have a fairly good idea. Anyone who spends so much time torturing and killing living things has no right to insult me because I rid the world of one useless old man."

"I thought you didn't care for Halves. I thought we agreed that they are monsters, and undeserving of pity."

"I don't have to pity them to think it's sick that you enjoy torturing them," Kaiba snapped. "I only go along with this insanity to keep you quiet. You know that."

"Then be of some help to me."

"Fine. Here is how things stand. Some days ago, I hired two monster hunters to catch Halves for me. Instead, they conspired with them to take the reward I offered and escape with both of them. Is that the kind of thing you concern yourself with? Someone is trying to profit off of your project, and robbing us both while they do it."

"Yes, that is mildly annoying, when you put it like that," Pegasus mused. "I'll have to look into it. I suppose that's useful information to know... Very well. I will forgive you this time, if this tip of yours turns out to be useful. If it doesn't, however, I will expect you to make the usual tribute at the end of the month, just as always. Is that understood?"

"Perfectly," Kaiba ground out.

"Then just leave me whatever information you've got on these nasty little conspirators of yours, and then you can go away and stop boring me."

Holding his temper in check as best he could, Kaiba gave all the information he knew about the hunters and their whereabouts, and then stalked out of the room, fuming.

_If he had never worked out that I killed my father, maybe he would have left me alone,_ Kaiba mused. _I'll never figure out how he did it... unless the rumors are true, that he's learned black magic. I suppose that would make it easy enough to see if someone had a murder on their hands. Murder? No, it was justified! I don't regret it. I'd do it again, if I had to._

The more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that it had to be magic of some sort that had clued him into Kaiba's past deeds. There had been no other evidence - Kaiba had been far to careful about that. He had planned it much too carefully to leave any traces of how he'd killed the man he'd been forced to call his father.

In truth, he was in no way related to the Baron who had come before him. Kaiba's real father had been a landed knight. His holdings had been small but fertile, and he'd managed them well and made sound investments, and by the time Mokuba had been born into the family, they had become quite wealthy. Unfortunately, he had given more thought to cultivating his land and marketing its products than he had to keeping up with his knightly training. When the King had called him away to deal with a group of bandits, it had ended with his throat being slit, and left his wife a widow - but a comely and wealthy one. She had ruled over the property as regent, waiting for the day when her eldest son would attain his majority.

Meanwhile, the Baron, who should have had a fortune of his own, had ended up squandering it on projects that had failed to yield any returns, and was in need of ready money. He had married the young widow and adopted their sons, only a year before the entire fortune would have become Kaiba's. She did not live long after the marriage, but had faded away under a mysterious illness and died only a few months afterwards. Instead of becoming the master of his own small patch of land, Kaiba was forced to become subordinate to a man who was no kin of his, and content himself with waiting until the man's death before he could claim what belonged to him by rights. Nevertheless, Kaiba bore up under the treatment quietly, knowing that the man couldn't live forever. He was resigned to wait.

Until two years ago, when the secret had come out.

It had not gone any further than the Baron's ears, but that was far enough. Kaiba had seen the change come over him. One day, he had looked at Mokuba as only a little boy, someone who was slightly in the way but nothing that couldn't be ignored. The next day, he was ready to kill him. Kaiba had never doubted that he would do it. He had never wanted two sons who didn't belong to him, and would have preferred to pass his title on to a child of his own blood, if he could. He might tolerate having Kaiba around just to be sure that there would be someone to keep his holding from falling into anarchy if something should happen to him, but he had no reason for keeping a small child around if he didn't want it. It would be entirely too easy for an "accident" to be arranged, and then there would be one less irritating small child in the world... unless Kaiba decided to do something about it first.

The matter came to a head the night that the Baron announced that Mokuba would be sent to the King's court to become a squire. No one had seen anything odd about that - it was a logical thing to do with a younger son of a noble who had few prospects of becoming Baron himself someday, but might make it as a knight of the realm with a bit of training. It was only Kaiba who guessed that there was a good chance that Mokuba would never come back, and probably never arrive at the King's court at all. He had confronted the Baron in private, and there had been a shouting match that had shaken the rafters. That shouldn't have been enough to make anything suspicious; everyone knew Kaiba and Mokuba were close and weren't looking forward to being separated. Of course there would be a fight. Afterwards, he had asked for permission to spend the night in Mokuba's room so they could make the most of their time together before Mokuba was sent away. A place was set up for him there, and he and his young brother settled down in a chair together by the fire. When the servants had left them, they were reading together out of a story book. So far, so good.

After a few minutes had gone by, Kaiba had slipped out of the room and worked his way downstairs - not a particularly difficult task. The Baron insisted on keeping his servants out of sight when they weren't wanted; they all used the hidden hallways. No one was there to see him as he followed the staircase down to the wine cellars, selected a bottle, and poured most of it down a privy. The rest he took with him to his so-called father's private rooms, set it down carefully next to the door, and then rapped politely and asked for admittance.

It took all his willpower to keep the conversation civil - meaning quiet. Nobody needed to hear this discussion. He had told the Baron that he'd reconsidered, and that it meant more to him to have a chance to succeed as baron than it did to protect Mokuba, who would only be a liability to him anyway. He'd said he'd only been so outspoken because he'd promised his mother he would look after Mokuba, but she was dead now, and Kaiba had his own fortunes to consider. He'd hated himself for saying it, but it seemed to please the Baron. They had discussed what would happen after Mokuba had set out on his final journey. Then, suddenly, Kaiba had looked up and exclaimed that he'd heard a noise out in the courtyard. He ran to the window, and the older man had followed him.

And Kaiba had caught him by the front of the shirt and pulled, and that had been the end of the conversation, unless one counted a short scream that was abruptly cut off. Kaiba retrieved the near-empty bottle that had once held potent wine, left it conspicuously on the Baron's desk, and then retreated to his brother's room. When questioned later, Mokuba had been more than willing to say that his brother had been with him the whole time, and since everyone had seen Kaiba go in but no one had seen him go out, there was no choice but to believe that the Baron had drunk a bit too much after dinner and taken a tumble out the window. The next morning, Kaiba had been the new Baron, and both he and Mokuba were perfectly safe.

Or so Kaiba had thought, before he'd gotten mixed up with the Count.

_I'll get rid of him somehow,_ Kaiba swore. _There's blood on my hands already; one more won't matter. No one can be allowed to know the truth._

HR 

The Count's city loomed in the distance, gray and massive and imposing. Yugi stared at it and found himself mildly stunned; when he'd seen how much bigger the Baron's city was than his own small village, he couldn't imagine anything bigger. Now he was seeing it. He wondered what the King's city must be like.

"Well, that's the place," said Honda. "Guess it's time for us to get ready to start packing our things up."

"I don't have any things!" Ryou replied, looking mildly dismayed.

"Then you're a step ahead of us," Jonouchi replied. "I pulled all my stuff out of my bag looking for my spare whetstone, and I _still_ can't find it. I bet I lost it somewhere."

"If it's a spare, don't you have another one?" Honda asked.

Jonouchi gave him a glare. "If I did, I wouldn't be looking for a spare, would I?"

"I'll bet you can buy a new one in there," said Yugi, still looking up at the city, which was drawing steadily nearer as their wagon rolled along.

"Good idea!" Jonouchi declared. "All right, then - when we get in there, we go shopping!"

Yugi wasn't sure he entirely approved of that idea, but it wasn't entirely his decision to make. Before he could object, the voice in his mind said, _It wouldn't hurt if I were better equipped._

That made Yugi pause a bit. Thus far, he and Yami had been making do with weapons borrowed from the Wind People; they had nothing that truly belonged to them. If they were going to go out into the uncertain world, it would probably be a good idea to have at least a knife to protect themselves with. He was certain his partner would be able to pick out something they would be able to manage.

"I think I'll come with you," he said to Jonouchi. "I just thought of some things I need."

At last, the wagons rolled to a halt a short distance outside the city, and the Wind People began to unpack and prepare for another stay. Yugi sighed a little as he climbed out of the wagon. He'd enjoyed his stay with these carefree wanderers, and he was sorry to have to leave them and go back to the everyday world... for more reasons than one.

As Yugi and Ryou waited for their friends to get their things together (the two of them had very little in the way of belongings, having lost most of them when they'd been captured, but Jonouchi and Honda had come prepared) Anzu arrived with the clan chief in tow.

"So, you four are leaving us, are you?" he asked as he drew nearer.

"We really can't stay," Ryou replied. "We would if we could, but it's just not safe for a Half in this big city."

"We'll be sorry to see you go. You've all been very helpful to us, far more than most outsiders would think of being to the Wind People."

"Aw, it was nothing," said Honda modestly. "Just doing what we do best!"

"True. You did an excellent job. Here is the payment we promised." He passed each of the young men a sack of coins. Jonouchi opened his and poured part of it out to have a look at the contents.

"That's about right," he said. "Thanks! I'll take a job with you guys any time."

"I'm going to miss you guys!" said Anzu. "Come see us again as soon as you can, okay?"

She hugged each of them in turn, prompting more than one blush. Yugi in particular found himself hard-pressed not to look too ridiculously pleased. After she let go, he stood there, shifting from foot to foot and staring at the ground.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she asked. "Get going already. I hate long goodbyes."

"Yeah, I guess we'd better get a move on," Honda agreed. "Thanks for everything. We'll try to get back to you when we can."

"I know you will," she said. "Now go on, shoo!"

She waved them away, and then turned and hurried off, wiping fretfully at her eyes. The boys watched her, feeling awkward, until they finally turned and walked resolutely away.

Yugi might have felt sad for much longer if he'd been parting with Anzu back in his own home town, but the advantage to a big city was that once he was lost in the crowd, he couldn't hear himself think. There was simply too much noise around him, and too many sights, too much movement, too many people jostling him. He had only seen the Baron's city by night, with the streets nearly empty. The roads he was traveling now were crammed with people of all ages and stations, from little children helping mind their parents' produce stalls, up to gray-bearded nobles in their carriages. Yugi stayed close to Jonouchi, Honda, and Ryou, torn between the desire to stare at everything and to hide somewhere quiet and hope everything went away.

"Hey, don't look so scared," said Jonouchi, patting him on the back. "It's just people."

"But there's too many of them!" Yugi protested.

"Let's get off the main streets," said Ryou. "The crowds will be thinner elsewhere."

"I'll bet we can get better bargains, too, from places that aren't right in the center of things," said Jonouchi practically. "No point in wasting money."

"Not after all we went through to get it!" Honda agreed.

They escaped down the first side street they came to and scanned the signs on the next road until they found a modest weapons shop that didn't look like it would be too unbearably crowded. Judging by the covetous looks Jonouchi and Honda cast the goods in the window, Yugi assumed the weapons were good quality, though he himself wasn't sure he'd be able to tell a good piece from a bad one. He exchanged a look with Ryou, who appeared as bemused as he was, but seemed willing enough to go along with the deal. They went inside and began to look around.

Jonouchi and Honda were immediately attracted to a rack of swords displayed on the back wall. Yugi considered those a little beyond his means, not to mention a bit awkward to carry around, and opted instead to look at smaller and more affordable things. He found a sturdy sling, reinforced with metal and far less worn than the sticks-and-leather contraption he'd been using to hunt small game, and considered the merits of a matched set of knives that could be used for throwing or hand-to-hand fighting. Ryou toyed with a small penknife.

"I'm not much of a fighter, but this is practical," he said.

Jonouchi was rapturously contemplating a gleaming sword with a charmed blade.

"I want this so bad!" he wailed.

"So get it!" said Honda.

"But I can't afford it!"

"Then you'll just have to do without it."

"But I _want_ it!"

Ryou chuckled softly. "I'll loan you something, if you want. I really don't need it all that much, and you do need weapons for your work..."

"You don't hafta do that," said Jonouchi. "I really do have other things I need more. This one will do just fine." He picked up a different weapon, sturdier but less elaborate. "I could use a new one. This old thing I've been lugging around barely holds an edge."

Yugi bought the sling and the knives, Ryou purchased his penknife, and Jonouchi and Honda came away with several things that would be useful for their trade. Thus equipped, they stepped out of the store and into the city streets.

"Where to now?" Ryou asked.

"Guess we start looking for work," said Honda, running a hand through his hair as he considered. "Or maybe finding a place to stay the night. Or both. I know we don't want to stay here longer than we have to, but..."

"We're bound to be safe for one night, at least," said Jonouchi. "I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I wouldn't mind sleeping in an actual bed just once before we hit the road again."

"It's still a bit early to be thinking about that," Ryou replied. "It's barely noon, yet."

"Wouldn't that be the best time, though?" asked Yugi. "I mean, once it starts getting dark, everyone from out of town is going to be looking for a... Wait a minute, do you hear that?"

There was a disturbance somewhere far up the street, though from where the boys stood, they could make out nothing but an indeterminate jumble of shouts and curses. Then a hooded figure burst through the crowd and came barreling down the walkway as fast as he could, carrying a bulging sack under one arm that in all likelihood didn't belong to him. He glanced their way, then skidded to a halt and changed direction, heading straight for them.

"Here, hold this," he said to Ryou, and shoved the bundle into his arms.

"What? But - huh?" Ryou stammered, involuntarily closing his hands around the sack.

"Don't worry - I don't want it anymore," the thief answered. He flicked off his cloak and tossed it over Ryou's head and shoulders. "Hold that, too. Well, I'm off! Have fun!"

Everyone watched blankly as the pale-haired thief gave one last wicked grin and vanished into the crowd.

They did not have long to contemplate this phenomenon, however, before a number of town guards ran up. It didn't take long for them to catch sight of the still baffled Ryou.

"There he is! Seize him!"

"No, wait! You've got the wrong one!" Yugi protested, stepping in front of his friend in a vain effort to protect him.

"He looks like the right man to me," said one of the guards. "Don't try to play games with us! He's holding the loot there in his hands, and you're trying to tell me he's not a thief!"

"He isn't," said Jonouchi. "We were just standing here, and this crazy guy runs up, shoves a bag into Ryou's hands, puts a cloak over him, and runs off! None of us have stolen anything!"

"That's right," said Yugi. "We only just stepped out of the shop - you can ask the shopkeeper. Ryou couldn't have been the one you were chasing, because he was here the whole time. Besides, the thief had a scar under his eye, and Ryou hasn't got one."

Ryou was studying the bag he'd been given with an expression of puzzlement, peering into its depths. "This is full of rocks. Why would anyone steal a bag of rocks?"

"Let me see that!" barked the guard. He stared into the bag, and his expression shifted from fury to confusion. "It is full of rocks! What's going on here?"

"If I were to guess," said Yugi, "I'd say your thief either put whatever he stole into his pockets, or dropped it off somewhere safe, and replaced it with the stones. He might have even been carrying this bag when he started and left it here just to confuse you."

"It worked, too, 'cause you guys are standing around talking to us instead of looking for him," said Jonouchi irritably.

"Right. Sorry about that," said the captain. He pointed to some of his men. "You, you, and you - fan out and see if you can find some trace of him. He's probably long gone by now, but we might still get lucky and have him be overconfident. As for you," he added, to Yugi and his friends, "I'm going to have to ask you to come down to the constabulary building and file a report. You all must have gotten a close look at the culprit; you can give us a good description of him."

The boys looked at each other uncertainly. Eventually, they seemed to decide that the best way to stay out of trouble with the law was to be cooperative. They followed the guard back to the station. Yugi found himself wishing heartily that there was another option; the last thing he needed was for anyone in this city to figure out who and what he was, and Ryou already had a criminal record of sorts. He wasn't aware that Honda and Jonouchi had any history with the law, but given the questionable nature of their work, it was entirely possible. Still, there was something about refusing to speak to the police that sent a certain message, and it wasn't one he really wanted to send. Maybe they wouldn't ask very much beyond what Bakura looked like. That would be safe enough.

The constabulary wasn't a very impressive building, on the inside. It consisted mainly of a series of cells for holding minor offenders, and a few small offices that were presumably used for meetings like this one. Yugi and his friends were told to sit in a row of rough wooden chairs, which creaked alarmingly whenever anyone moved. Yugi sat at the edge of his seat and was grateful, for once in his life, that he wasn't very large.

"Now," said the guard, as he settled down behind his desk and whisked out a clean sheet of parchment, "tell me what you remember about this thief."

They spilled out what details they could, taking care not to imply that any of them had ever met the thief before, and being equally cautious never to mention his name. It was a bit harder not to draw too much attention to the uncanny resemblance between Ryou and the thief, acting as if it were a simple coincidence. Ryou himself was very quiet and spoke only when spoken to, and even then, said as little as possible in a nearly inaudible monotone. Eventually the captain just stopped talking to him. Yugi was rather grateful; he was afraid someone would take Ryou's shyness for guilt.

"Well, that's about all we can do," said the captain at last, as he began rolling up his parchment. "Just one more thing - I'll want to get your names, for official purposes."

"Oh, ah... it's Yugi," stammered Yugi. He watched with a sense of relief as his name was written down without any sign of recognition or interest. Looking somewhat heartened, Ryou gave his name, and the two monster hunters did likewise. The captain wrote everything down and summoned a page of some sort to take the paper. The two of them held a whispered conference, and then the boy scampered off.

"So, I guess we're all done, huh?" said Jonouchi, beginning to climb from the uncomfortable chair with evident relief.

"No, not quite," said the officer. "We're done interviewing you about the thief. However, there is another question involved here."

"Eh?" said Honda, looking baffled. "What else is there?"

"Word has come in from the Count," the captain replied, "that we are looking for a group of two Halves and two monster hunters who answer to your names. I'm afraid you four are going to have to be brought before the court for crimes of conspiracy."

* * *

The young man dangled from the walls, suspended painfully by his wrists by manacles and chains. They were barely long enough for his toes to touch the ground, so that he had a choice between letting his arms hold his entire weight, or to strain his legs trying to balance on tiptoe for hours at a time. It was nearly impossible to sleep in that position, and he was bound too tightly to move his arms enough to relax them. Feeding himself was likewise impossible, even if his captor had been gentle enough to do more than allow him a sip of water once every so often. There was a wild light in his eyes as he stared up at the man who had imprisoned him.

"I don't know why you're doing this to me," the prisoner gasped. "I don't know anything!"

"I think you do," the man replied. "And I think you're going to tell me. If you do, I'll give you this."

He gestured at a table nearby, where rested a pitcher of clear water, moisture beading on its cool surface, and a bowl of soup with some bread. The prisoner looked at it very hard; he had lost track of how long he had been without food, and his guards had not been generous with his water supply.

"Is that not enough? Don't be afraid to ask; I can be generous," the man continued. He reached under a fold of his cloak - a rich garment, quite out of place in the squalid dungeon - and plucked out an iron key. "It occurs to me you might be more comfortable if your hands were free, and you could walk around your cell a bit. Wouldn't you like that?"

"You aren't offering me anything I didn't have before you got to me, Count," the prisoner croaked.

"Fine, fine. Be that way. How about this?" said the count. "I have it on good authority that you were, before my people apprehended you, a member of a gang of thieves. I suspect a fair amount of that finery you wear wasn't purchased honestly, now, was it? I know all the nobles for miles around, and merchants don't have tattoos like yours."

The thief cringed. He had been well-dressed before he'd been dragged down here, but his clothes had been torn to rags by now, and his skin was bare from the waist up. It was hard to hide the fact that his back was marked extensively. Perhaps as a matter of mockery, they had left his heavy gold necklaces, the cuffs on his wrists and ankles, and his earrings in place.

"So what if I am a thief?" he managed at last.

"Tell me what I want to know, and I'll grant you a full pardon," said the Count. "You do realize that if you don't take my offer, you will have to be punished. I believe the usual punishment for thievery is losing your hands?"

He beckoned to someone behind him, and a man came up carrying a hefty blade. The thief shied away from it.

"Ah, I see you don't like that idea," said the Count. "Very well. Just tell me what you want to know, and you will be safe from harm. Now, answer me this: what is the power of the Halves?"

"Their blood," answered the thief instantly. "The power is in their blood!"

He knew instantly that this was new to the Count; an expression of keen interest flashed across his face.

"I suspected as much," he said. He sounded almost like he was talking to himself, now. "I thought there had to be something special about it. Next question: is it true, as the old books say, that there is a way to use a Half to gain eternal life, or to raise the dead?"

The thief nodded, eager for anything that would keep that sword away from him. "It's true. The gang leader told me so, and he knows about that kind of thing. He could use his own blood to do magic, and he taught me some."

"Can you do the thing I spoke of?"

"No."

"Are you sure?" There was menace in the Count's voice now.

"Yes!"

"What about this leader of yours? Would he know?"

"I don't think so, or he would have used it, I think," the thief replied thoughtfully. "There was only one in recent years who had the knack of putting his soul back into his body, no matter how many times you killed him. He'd always come back."

"Where is he now?"

The thief grinned. "Dead! Eaten by drachies. The drachies ate his body, so there wasn't anything for him to come back to. He never told anybody how he made himself stay alive before that, so the secret died with him."

The Count was not amused. "So you don't know anything else?"

"Nothing else. I've told you all I can tell you - now let me go!"

"Oh, I think not," said the Count smoothly. "If you can't tell me how to do the magic myself, then I'll just have to drain your blood so I can do some experiments." He nodded to the executioner with the blade. "Get a basin and slit his throat."

"No!" the thief shrieked, his voice cracking with panic and thirst. "Wait! Don't kill me yet! I can tell you more!"

"I don't believe you," said the Count.

The executioner had the basin in his hands; it must have been very close by, and the thief realized that the Count must have been planning on killing him anyway, whether he had spoken or not. He began to babble wildly, desperate for anything that might save him now, even for a few minutes more.

"It's gold! Gold!" he shouted. "You can't do the magic without gold!"

"Stop," said the Count to the executioner. "I want to hear the rest of this."

"Gold," the prisoner repeated weakly. "It's why we started the gang in the first place - to steal gold. The boss knew how to do magic with it, but it has to be pure gold, not the alloyed stuff. Pure gold."

"Easily attained," said the Count. "Then what?"

"You have to mix it with the blood of a Half. Even a drop will do," the thief replied. "You melt some gold down and pour in the blood, and then you form it into whatever shape you want. The shape of the object defines its powers. You just have to find the right shape."

"I see... Well. You have been useful to me, thief. Far more useful than anyone else has been. Just for that, I have decided to spare your life, after all. Loose his bonds."

The executioner, looking rather surly at not being allowed to slit any throats today, grudgingly took the key from his master and set about undoing the chains. The thief fell to his knees with a groan, as his stiff limbs were forced to bend from the positions they'd been held in. For a moment, all he could do was lie there in pain, until his muscles slowly relaxed enough that he could move again. On his hands and knees, he crept toward the table where food and drink lay. The Count made little shooing motions, urging him to get on with it. The thief fixed him with a glare.

"It's not poisoned, is it?"

To his annoyance, the Count laughed. "Gracious, no! What would be the point? No, dear boy, your blood is a precious commodity. I will not soil it. Eat and drink as you will, and regain your strength. You're going to need it."

The thief looked at the repast he'd been about to partake of, and then at the Count, and it slowly dawned on him what was going on.

_He's not going to kill me off now - he wants to keep me alive so he can bleed me off slowly!_

It was on his lips to say that everything he'd said was a lie, that he'd just made it all up to keep from being killed, to go ahead and kill him now and get it over. The last thing he had ever wanted was to become the tool of some insane rich man. The marks on his back bore testament to his days as a slave; he had promised himself that he would never go through that again. He had joined the band of thieves with the thought of becoming rich and powerful himself, some day, so powerful that he could bring low the ones who had treated him so cruelly, and make himself the master over them.

_But it would be idiotic to lie down and let him slaughter you like a tame little sheep,_ he told himself. _Better to pretend to be docile for now._

Slowly and deliberately, he got up and took a long drink from the pitcher, without bothering with the cup that was sitting nearby, and then began carefully sipping at the soup. He seemed so intent on his food that he didn't even wince when a knife was drawn across his arm, and a few drops of sparkling pink blood were collected in a dish. He didn't seem to notice, but he did.

_Oh, yes, I'll need my strength,_ he was thinking. _I'll need it for the day I punish you for this. I'll come to take payment for every drop you take from me..._

**To Be Continued...**


End file.
